Kiełbasa biała parzona wielkopolska

Appearance & taste

The sausage is twisted off into links every 10 to 12 cm; its shape comes from twisting the casing, and the cross-section is round and at most 33 mm thick. The casing is clean, matt and feels slightly moist. On the outside and when cut the sausage is grey, with small pink spots from pieces of meat; the visible marjoram can shape the colour. Immediately after cooking it is whitish – hence the name “biała” (white).

Once cooked it is not too compact when cut, and a little meat juice may run out when it is sliced. The taste of cooked pork predominates, with a distinct note of marjoram and a mild aroma of garlic and pepper; the salt is noticeable.

It is sold loose or packed in a protective atmosphere. Loose sausages carry one band per three pairs and are put in a bag with the PGI symbol, the name of the producer and the name of the sausage; only the producers may sell them loose, in their shops or at their stalls. Packed sausages come in groups of six.

Production

The meat comes from pig half-carcasses with 55 % lean meat, not from breeding sows or breeding boars. It is only chilled, not frozen, and cut up 48 to 72 hours after slaughter. Three classes of meat are used: 70 % lean meat, 20 % slightly fatty meat and 10 % sinewy meat. The meat is minced medium to fine; lean, sinewy meat from the ham and shoulder serves as a binder. Meat substitutes and water-binding substances are banned.

The only seasonings are evaporated salt, freshly ground black pepper, grated fresh garlic and chopped marjoram, of which at least 0.3 kg is used per 100 kg of sausage. Preparing the meat, mincing, mixing the filling, filling and tying the casings, a resting phase, cooking and cooling take place in the area of origin.

Origin & history

The area covers the Greater Poland Voivodeship (Wielkopolskie), the counties of Gorzówski, Krośnieński, Międzyrzecki, Słubicki, Strzelecko-Drezdenecki, Świebodziński, Wschowski and Zielonogórski in the Lubusz Voivodeship, and the counties of Mogileński and Żniński in Kuyavia-Pomerania.

According to the specification, Greater Poland has always been known for its pig farming. Pork products were made for weddings, christenings, first Masses, birthdays and harvest festivals, and among them this sausage was considered a special delicacy. Cooked sausages existed in German, Polish, Czech and Slovak areas at least since the 19th century, often also with beef, veal or lamb and made from cured meat. In Greater Poland people stuck to pure, uncured pork and to marjoram, which is grown throughout the region. A national white sausage recipe of 1964 allowed the marjoram to be left out at the customer’s request; according to the specification, in Greater Poland the sausage was always made with marjoram.

The production rules for large meat plants were recorded on the basis of oral tradition and notes from the 1950s. In the 1990s, competitions held before Easter by the chamber of crafts, the butchers’ guild and the Agricultural Academy in Poznań defined the characteristics of the sausage. During martial law, butchers were allocated extra meat to make it. Today it is part of the daily range of butchers’ shops and has been offered for 40 years at the St John’s celebrations for the summer solstice in Poznań.