Sausage: composition, useful and harmful properties, recipes

According to the definition given in one of the dictionaries of the Russian language, sausages are small sausages. To this we should add that sausages are one of the most popular meat products, and according to reviews not only Russians, because it is known throughout the world.

What are sausages and what are they made of

Sausages in essence are really sausages no more than 30 cm long with a diameter ranging from 14 to 30 mm, which are usually eaten raw.

They must be beef or pork. Quality sausages of the highest grade are enclosed in natural casings. The high cost of animal meat forces producers to replace it not only with poultry meat, but also to use a large number of additives. Their list includes starch, cereals, soy, poultry meat. That is why you can read on the packaging of sausages that it is a meat-based product. The buyer should understand: the product, which should have at least 60 g of minced meat, has additives of vegetable origin.

Types

The species variety of sausages is determined by what is at the base of the product.

1. So, in conventional sausages, the minced meat consists of pork and beef with fat and spices.
2. For the manufacture of diet sausages use poultry meat.
3. Smoked meat is used to make hunting sausages.
4. Because of the dried milk in the ingredients, this type of sausage is called dairy. The presence of powdered milk makes the product soft and delicate in taste.
5. Preservatives and dyes are absent in Bavarian sausages. Their color is light gray.
6. Not forgotten are the vegetarians for whom soy sausages are made.

What is the difference between a sausage and a bratwurst

At first glance, it may seem that there is not much difference between a sausage and a bratwurst: both products contain meat and both are small in size. But there are differences, and significant ones.

1. Sausages are based on ground meat, and wieners - chopped meat.
2. The casing of the former is artificial, while the chopped meat of wieners is filled in the natural casing - the intestines.
3. Sausages may contain along with half of the composition of meat by-products, poultry and various additives. Whereas sausages may contain only 7% spices and bacon, the rest is necessarily minced pork. Shpikachi are considered to be a kind of wieners, which add minced bacon.

Composition and calories

Variety and type of sausages determine its composition. Since it is a meat product, the main thing in it is meat: pork, beef or chicken. To it is added in a certain amount of bacon, food additives in the form of cereals, starch, flour, soy protein, vegetable fat. Often sausages contain skin, sinews, blood, fatty tissue. Chemical components - phosphates, sodium nitrite, flavorings and flavor enhancers, synthetic dyes, preservatives - give the product an attractive appearance and taste. Spices and spices, such as cloves, coriander, garlic, nutmeg, black pepper and allspice, influence the taste of the semi-finished product. table salt is also obligatory.

The number of calories in sausages is determined by their composition. In 100 grams of sausages of beef 230 kcal, of chicken about 260 kcal. The largest number of calorie units in pork sausages - up to 350, especially fatty is considered smoked product. In addition, the caloric value is also affected by the fat and soy content: the higher the figure, the higher the caloric value. Note that sausages contain refractory saturated fats. They are not as useful as unsaturated fats in nuts and fish.

The product is rich in proteins, vitamins B1, B2, PP, E and fats. Minerals are represented by iodine, iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium.

What are the health benefits of sausages

The high caloric value of sausages promotes a good and accelerated repayment of energy expenditures of the body. Quickly organize breakfast and dinner, prepare a dish with sausages for lunch - all this is considered one of the most attractive features of the semi-finished product. Due to the presence in the product of a considerable number of useful elements, it can maintain a good condition of the body. True, it is always necessary to take into account that the greater benefits have a quality expensive sausages.

For women

Moderate consumption of sausages will do a good service to the female body during the critical days, replenishing the body with iron. Vitamin E contained in them has a beneficial effect on the function of the genitals. This component, as an antioxidant, opposes free radicals, promotes the removal of salts of heavy metals. All this allows women to maintain a youthful and attractive appearance.

For men

High-quality sausages help the male body to replenish energy costs. A reasonable amount of the product in a man's menu helps the work of the genitals.

For Pregnancy

Sausages, in which all standards of quality manufacturing are observed, are useful to the body of a pregnant woman. However, great caution should be exercised when deciding to include a semi-finished product in the menu. Useful substances in the form of minerals and vitamins will help in the prevention of anemia, which often accompanies pregnancy. But experts recommend that pregnant women avoid frequent consumption of sausages.

When breastfeeding

Only very moderate consumption of quality sausages during breastfeeding can protect the body of the child and the mother from the negative effects of the product.

For kids

Sausages should occupy an extremely small place in the child's menu. For baby food should buy a product designed specifically for babies. Products should have a minimum amount of chemical additives, fats and salts compared to products for adults. Sausages are allowed in children's diets when a child is three years old and no more than once a week. Their content of amino acids promotes the development of muscle tissue of the growing body. Children will like the half-finished product as an addition to a cereal dish, also in yeast or puff pastry. It is preferable for the child to make sausages from chicken meat at home.

Important! Sausages - a food product, which requires a prudent and reasonable attitude.

Which sausage is healthier: fried or boiled?

Sausages in the production process are already receiving heat treatment. Nevertheless, before consuming them, they should be boiled in boiling water or fried. Which of these methods is better? From a health point of view, it is more useful to boil the product: it makes it juicier, in addition, at least some of the harmful carcinogens and dyes are found in the water. Boiled sausages are less caloric than fried ones.

Sausages fried in a frying pan, especially in butter, increase the amount of cholesterol and carcinogens in the body. Frying sausages in olive oil, pork or goose lard, that is clarified fat, will bring less harm. Conclusion: the best way to cook sausages is to boil them in plenty of water. In this case, you should choose a quality product, because the other can simply fall apart during cooking.

Is it possible to eat sausages when losing weight

The presence in most types of semi-finished products a lot of additives make sausages a prohibited product for those who have decided to lose weight. But nutritionists allow you to eat sausages, which have at least 80% of the meat with a minimum content of chemical additives. It is better, of course, in this case to use a homemade product, despite its not very attractive appearance and unusual taste. If there is no desire to take such advice, it is preferable to buy sausages for baby food: they should be the least harmful components for the body.

In the diet of a thin person can include boiled sausages - 2-3 pieces per week.

Sausages in medicine

The prominent role of sausage sticks, attributed by advertisers and most consumers, is much lowered if we are aware of its health effects. Frequent inclusion of the product in the menu leads to human addiction to semi-finished products under the influence of preservatives that are detrimental to the taste buds. Medicine is very wary of this semi-finished product.

For diabetics.

Specially for diabetics, among the many special products manufacturers also produce sausages. A couple of boiled sausages with a salad of vegetables once every few days is quite acceptable. In the special semi-finished products for diabetics, all the usefulness of the ingredients is taken into account. It has no sugar, and of the spices - only cinnamon. Therefore, patients, having a product specially made for them, should give preference to it in order to prevent complications with the disease.

Important: The glycemic index of sausages is 25 units.

For pancreatitis.

The features of this disease and the composition of modern sausages make them an undesirable product for patients. A large amount of salt, replacement of meat with waste after slaughtered animal processing, the presence of soy, an incredible amount of harmful additives, fat and spices in sausages irritate the pancreas and lead to a worsening of the disease.

Remission stage of chronic pancreatitis allows the inclusion in the diet of quality boiled sausages from beef and chicken meat, which have the least amount of fat, completely free of spices, with minimal additives. More useful will be a product with a side dish of cereals or vegetable salad no more than twice a week.

With gastritis

As one of the lightest meat foods, sausages have a minimum of harm to the digestive organs. Therefore, the product in moderate quantities is recommended for inclusion in the menu of patients with gastritis. Dairy, creamy, sausages for baby food - the types of product most suitable for such a diagnosis.

For constipation.

Sausages, as a product with very little quality meat and many additional components, disrupt intestinal peristalsis and in no way contribute to its emptying. In case of constipation this sausage product is prohibited.

In case of gout

This disease is caused by the deposition of salts in the joints. This can be promoted by the abuse of products containing purines. Naturally, the banned list of products for patients with gout includes sausages.

For the liver

One of the main organs of the human body is the liver. It, unlike other organs, is able to recover under the influence of properly selected drugs and foods. Sausages with their dubious set of components are not on the list of foods recommended for beneficial effects on the liver.

Hemorrhoids

With this problem, both women and men should not include in the diet of sausage products, in particular, sausages, which provoke constipation. They lead to damage to the lymphatic system of the rectum in hemorrhoids.

In cholecystitis.

Inflammation of the gallbladder and stones in the pancreas is a good reason to avoid sausages. An important reason for this is the "rich" composition of the semi-finished product, which negatively affects the activity of the human processing organs.

Pay attention! Sausages - a product, in terms of medicine, has no outstanding importance in the life of the human body.

Harm and contraindications

Sausage, in the broadest sense, is a semi-finished product that is considered less safe than sausage. But the variety of chemical additives in the absence of real meat makes them not just useless, sometimes even harmful to the human body.

The product is dangerous for people with allergic diseases. The presence of flavor enhancers in semi-finished products leads to a violation of the taste buds and addiction to one type of food consumed. This eliminates interest in healthy and wholesome food. Therefore, the presence of sausages in the menu should be very rare and rationed, especially for children.

In the sausage is an abundance of substances deposited in the body dangerous ballast, which not only can not be absorbed, but can aggravate chronic diseases. Pregnant women for the whole period of bearing a child should exclude this ready-made product from their diet. If children under three years of age have not tried sausage, it will only have a positive effect on their development.

Sausages are dangerous for those with liver, gastric bladder and kidney dysfunction. Cardiovascular system and gastrointestinal tract will suffer from reckless consumption of low quality product. Arthritis, arthritis, gout, obesity, diabetes, thyroid problems are all direct contraindications to the use of sausages.

How to choose and store sausages

When choosing any product, the consumer first of all pays attention to its appearance. Bright pink sausages signal about the excessive presence of dyes in them. The filling should consist of minced meat of a homogeneous grayish-pink color. The shape that easily recovers after pressing and the absence of grease stains on the casing indicates the good quality of the product.

Ideally, the artificial shell should not have wrinkles. In contrast to the natural casing, it tears when cooked. But sausages in natural casings are more expensive. In GOST sausages the following components are mandatory: beef, pork, water, protein, rarely cream. The presence of eggs or egg powder, milk must be specified on the label. Spices, namely sugar, salt, nutmeg, ground black pepper and allspice, sodium nitrite are also indicated by manufacturers who care about their consumers.

The TU marking on the package warns about the addition of other ingredients. These can be: cheese, mushrooms, spices, which does not detract from the quality of the sausage.

Sausages, sold by weight, can be stored for no more than 5 days. Modified gas atmosphere extends the period to 35 days, and if it is a TU - even more. Vacuum packaging allows you to store sausage products for up to 20 days. But if the package is opened, then the products are suitable for consumption for only three days. You should not buy semi-finished products in the absence of data on the shelf life.

Can I freeze

Sausages can be placed in the freezer if the product has not expired. Expired semi-finished products after defrosting lose not only in taste, but also in appearance: its surface becomes sticky.

Before freezing, the products should be separated from each other, placed in plastic bags in such a quantity that will be enough for one time. You can freeze the sausages sliced into circles for use in baking, cooking omelets, hodgepodge.

How to make sausages at home

To avoid the negative effects of purchased sausages on the body, you can prepare the product at home. For example, from chicken breast fillet, turned into minced meat, with the addition of a chicken egg, butter, milk, onion, garlic, salt, ground black pepper to taste, you can prepare about two dozen sausages. Two tablespoons of the mixture wrapped in cling film in the form of sausages, will be much healthier than those purchased at the point of sale. However, you should cook them a little longer: about 15 minutes. Instead of breast, you can use turkey meat, beef fillets, pork, passed through a meat grinder at least twice. Additions to the stuffing can be finely grated carrots, semolina, beets. For natural casing, you can use pork intestines.

How to make sausage in dough

Sausage in dough is a very popular type of baking. The dough can be yeast, puff pastry.

Prepared at home, yeast dough is rolled out, cut into strips, in which the sausage is wrapped. They are baked in the oven for about half an hour.

When using puff pastry, after defrosting, the sheets are rolled out and cut into strips, which are wrapped around the sausages. The cooking time for such sausages is a quarter of an hour.

Instead of regular or yeast dough, you can make crumbly dough. In the egg beaten with salt and sugar add flour with baking powder and butter. The dough is placed in the freezer for half an hour. Then, divided into pieces and rolled into strips, it is rolled on sausages. The products are baked in the oven for 15 minutes.

The same amount of time will be needed to bake sausages in an oil dough. It is prepared from flour with sunflower oil and spices.

Sausages in dough can not only be baked in the oven, but also fried in a pan with a lot of vegetable oil. Naturally, the product, cooked in this way, becomes more caloric and difficult for the body to digest.

How to cook sausages

Cooking sausages, while seemingly simple, has a number of features.

How to cook

It is recommended to cook a minimum number of sausages - 4. This number is good for a medium sized pot. Frozen sausages do not need to defrost. Sausages in natural casings are cooked in the "clothing", and artificial casings can be removed or left. To free the cooked sausage from the film, you should rinse it with cold water and remove it.

Cooking sausages pour cold water until fully covered, gradually bringing to a boil over low to medium heat. After boiling, it will take about 7 minutes for pre-frozen sausages and up to 20 seconds of boiling for fresh sausages.

Sausages should not be kept in water, they should be taken out or drained. It happens that after a while they lose their shape. To avoid this, you can cook semi-finished products in a two-step method.

Already with boiled sausages with a paper towel to remove excess moisture and divide into halves lengthwise. Then these halves are placed for half a minute on a heated frying pan with vegetable oil.

The taste of the sausages will change if you put mushrooms or fried onions in the water. German sausages boiled in beer will acquire their original flavor after about 20 minutes of cooking. Other kinds of sausages are not suitable for this method.

How to fry

For frying, sausages in natural casing are best suited. Place products on a heated frying pan with oil and fry for 5-6 minutes on both sides. If there is a threat of bursting casings, you can cut the sausage into slices and fry in vegetable oil until golden. Sausages with cuts on both ends will be attractive after frying.

Can I Eat Sausages Raw

On a production scale sausages are necessarily subjected to heat treatment, so the presence of pathogenic microbes in them is excluded. Be that as it may, in raw form this product can be eaten with full confidence in their quality. But for cheap kinds of sausages boiling or frying is mandatory. Eating raw sausages can be justified by a lack of time.

Can we give sausages to animals?

The semi-finished product is considered a meat product. Therefore, it would seem that they can, without any doubt, be fed to dogs, cats. But the presence in the product of meat substitutes, chemical additives, spices does not allow to consider semi-finished products as basic food. You can give sausages to dogs as a reward or a treat.

It is often advised to offer a piece to the dog or cat before eating any sausage product - animals will not eat an artificial product. But even high-quality sausages may not be in the pets' diet more than once a week. The composition of this product can be harmful to the health of animals.

Interesting facts about sausages

1. By birthplace, the sausage is a "native" of Germany. Its "father" was the Bavarian butcher Johann Laner, who first prepared the product from a mixture of pork and beef. However, it is believed that already in the time of Homer they knew about this delicacy, as evidenced by one of his plays.
2. The variety of sausages is interesting. For example, visitors to a restaurant in Düsseldorf can try the golden sausage, so called because of the microscopic layer of gold on ordinary sausages.
3. The bizarre hairy sausages were invented in Russia. The role of hair is played by ribbons of spaghetti threaded through the "body" of the sausage.
4. The champion of eating sausages for a time is considered the New Zealander Stefan Paladin. He ate 8 pieces in a minute. Record has not yet been updated.
5. Another achievement is considered a record of Englishman Jay Jay Tranfield, who made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest sausage at 59 kilometers and 140 meters. It would take a man 20 hours to walk from one end of the product to the other.
6. Berlin has a unique pork sausage museum, where you can not only see the exhibits, learn their history, but also try sausages with different sauces and seasonings.
7. More than one thousand diplomas in sausage studies have been awarded at the German Sausage Academy. Its graduates are well versed not only in the varieties of sausages, but also in the products that go best with them: beer, mustard, sauces.
8. In Thailand, a female resident set up a shrine in honor of a kitten that happened to be in one of her sausages. People who found out about it began to attend the temple, after which their lives changed for the better.
9. The fact that people can become addicted to eating sausages while neglecting all other foods was proven by a man named David Harding. He can't go a day without eating up to half a dozen sausages, especially Irish sausages.

Sausages are a sausage product beloved by the people of most of the world. Their consumption gives people gastronomic pleasure. But you should follow the rules of their use in the menu, so that the pleasure does not turn into suffering because of compromised health.

Sausage photo