Sausage: A Global History

Description

Our ancestors have enjoyed sausages for thousands of years, even though they've been the butt of jokes for nearly as long. While we often think of sausages as being made only of pork, they've been fashioned from virtually every animal humans eat, as well as a number of vegetarian-friendly fillings. Sausage: A Global History serves up a tasty, informative, and witty account of bangers and bratwurst from all different cultures and periods, easing our doubts about these "mystery meats," and introducing the reader to a host of unusual treats from around the world.Gary Allen's lively and engaging history of the sausage includes many recipes, both historic and original. It's lavishly illustrated with photos and graphics: antique posters and advertisements, photos from exotic lands, and cartoons. It's a virtual alphabet of sausages, from Andouilles (both the original French saucissons and Cajun Louisiana's spicier version), to Italy's zampone, seasoned forcemeat of pork, stuffed and into sewn into the skin of a pig's trotter. This book is literally wurstig (German for "stuffed like a sausage") with savory tidbits, and speculation on how the lowly sausage-which was first created to prevent waste of otherwise unusable scraps of meat-became the darling of gourmets. Sausage is sure to whet the appetite of foodies and scholars alike.

Gary Allen, Adjunct Professor, Empire State College of the State University of New York. Previous books include: The Resource Guide for Food Writers (Routledge, 1999); The Herbalist in the Kitchen (University of Illinois Press, 2007); and Herbs: A Global History (Reaktion, 2012).

"Allen explores, region by region, and sometimes country by country, some of the broad categories and local specialties. These are slim volumes, and so far from exhaustive, but there's an impressive overview here. From the German sulzwurst (a gelatine-bound sausage containing vinegar and/or pickles) to the Lebanese makanek (glazed with pomegranate molasses), from the beef sujuk (prevalent in Islamic countries) to Kazakhstan's kazy (dried, smoked sausages made with salted horseflesh and garlic) to the Thai sai krok lueat (curry-flavoured blood sausages), the reader can't help but be struck by the range of ingenuity--and perhaps sometimes desperation--that's been applied to humanity's most mobile meat." --Hans Rollman "PopMatters"