Different Types of Cured Sausage

A cured sausage can have many types and variations; most people I come across don’t even know what a cured sausage is!

Defining a cured sausage specifically needs to be done to categorize it. I’ve found wide interpretations both online and offline.

I’ve been curing and making sausage (I wrote about why they are so good here), even uncured sausages, for more than a few decades. I’ve encountered variations from Europe, Asia, and America’s new-age creations!

I will give a quick definition of each type of cured sausage.

Then, try to highlight some tables with these different types, briefly describing each. Many of these regionally based styles have lasted the test of time.

Some have been protected by law due to their cultural significance. I like classics, though I do like to create my own styles and see what new-age cured sausages and salami are being made.

Different Types of Cured Sausage and Salami

These are examples of the four main categories of cured sausages; there are thousands of variations and recipes for the cured types.

There are also many thousands more variations of fresh sausage recipes! Fresh sausage is seasoned raw meat that you cook on a grill, bake, or by other means.

All the below-cured sausages/salami are ready to eat.

Here is a breakdown of the four types of cured sausage/salami.

Type	Example	Time to Make
Cured, Fermented, Dried	Dry Cured Salami	4 to 26 weeks
Cured, Cold Smoked, Dried	Hungarian Kolbász Salami	4 to 26 weeks
Cured, Fermented, Raw	Spreadable Cold Smoked Mettwurst	1 to 2 days
Cured, Cooked/Hot Smoked	Kabanosy, Cabanossi, or Kabana	1 day

Now, let’s get into examples, descriptions, and more detail about cured sausage types.

Cured, Fermented, Dried

Origin	Name	Meat	Description
Italy	Genoa Salami	Pork	Pork, A classic, coarse-ground salami
Italy	Milano Salami	Pork	Finely ground, mildly seasoned salami
Italy	Soppressata	Pork	Spicy, coarsely ground salami
Italy, Parma	Felino Salami	Pork	Medium-grind, seasoned salami
Italy, Tuscany	Finocchiona	Pork	Flavored with fennel seeds
Spain	Dry Cured Chorizo	Pork	Smoked paprika/pimenton, tangy
France	Saucisson Sec	Pork	Air-dried, flavored with garlic
France	Saucisse Sèche	Pork	Air-dried, flavored with garlic
French, Lyon	Rosette de Lyon	Pork	Coarsely ground, garlicky salami
French, Lyon	Jésus de Lyon	Pork	Small, dried, and seasoned salami
North America	Pepperoni	Pork or Beef	Spicy, peppercorn, cured sausage
North America	Hard Salami	Pork or Beef	Generic Name, Firm salami
Spain	Longaniza	Pork	Garlic, Peppercorns, Cumin
Croatia	Kulen	Pork	Garlic, Pepper
Serbia	Sudžuk	Beef or Lamb	Dry, spicy sausage
Chinese	Lap Cheong	Pork	Sweet, dried salami for cooking
Switzerland or Germany	Landjäger	Pork	Air-dried, seasoned snack sausage

Cured, Cold Smoked, Dried Sausage

There is probably some natural fermentation happening with some of these traditional cured recipes.

Origin	Name	Description
Hungary	Kolbász	Paprika, Garlic, Pepper Classic Salami
Spain	Salchichón	Mild, large-diameter sausage
German	Thuringia	Eichsfelder Feldgieker garlic, coriander, slightly acidic
Greek	Pafos	Loukaniko, Red Greek Wine, Lentisk Seeds, Cumin, Coriander
South Africa	Droëwors	Dried (not smoked), Coriander Seed
Serbia	Sremska kobasica	Beef/pork, light smoke

Cured, Fermented, Raw

Some of these are cooked or poached, while you can also get spreadable salami like Njuda from Southern Italy. Many of the below—which are Germany of Origin—are not dried and are just eaten raw.

Spreadable Sausages	Description	Main Ingredients
Teewurst	Smoked and spreadable sausage with a smooth texture	Pork, beef, bacon
Mettwurst	Raw and spreadable sausage with a minced pork and beef base	Pork, beef
Leberwurst	Liver sausage with a creamy texture and rich flavor	Pork liver, pork meat, fat
Blutwurst	Blood sausage with a spreadable texture and robust taste	Pork blood, pork fat, fillers (e.g., barley, breadcrumbs, rice)
Schwartenmagen	Head cheese with a gelatinous texture and tangy flavor	Pig’s head, skin, meat
Zungenwurst	Tongue sausage with a spreadable consistency and savory taste	Pork tongue, bacon, other pork cuts
Hackepeter	Seasoned raw minced pork, often enjoyed spread on bread	Minced pork, onions, salt pepper
Njuda	Dry Cured, Hot Spicy Calabrian speciality	Pork Pepperocinio

Cured, Cooked/Hot Smoked

These styles of cooked/hot smoked sausage, last slightly longer than fresh meat. With the addition of a reasonable amount of salt. However, it is like a few days maybe up to 5 days.

More salt than you would get when seasoning the food you were cooking. but not as much as you would use for preserved curd/fermented meat like the above first type.

Origin	Name	Description
Poland	Krakowska	Allspice, Coriander, Garlic
Portugal	Linguiça	Rich spice blend
Poland	Kabanosy	Nutmeg, Caraway spices
Switzerland	Cervelat	Known as Thuringer or USA Summer Sausage
Poland	Wiejska	Hearty Polish Smokey
Poland	Kielbasa	Classic Polish, Garlic, Pepper
Ukraine	Tourist sausage	Caraway, Garlic
Ukraine	Podhalanska	Pepper, All Spice, Garlic
Germany	Jagdwurst	Mustard, Mace, Coriander, Ginger

Brazil, Linguiça Calabresa, Smoked, Paprika, Fennel, Chili

 Similar sausages are found in other countries as well, notably the Czech Republic (spelled “klobása”, or regionally “klobás”), Slovakia (spelled “klobása”), and Slovenia (spelled “klobása”). In Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, this sausage is called “kobasica” or “kobasa”, while in Bulgaria and North Macedonia it is called “kolbas”.) In Austria it is called “Klobassa” (similar to the neighbouring Slavic-speaking countries). In South Africa, this type of sausage is known as the “Russian” sausage, and is often deep-fried and served with chips as fast food.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielbasa#Explanatory_notes

The basis of this list is research I did online, as well as the book Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages by Miranski and Mirianski. Experts in Home and Commercial Cured Sausages and Salami

I could also go into many subvariations of these main variations of cured sausage!