Slavonska kobasica

Appearance & taste

The sausage is elongated and cylindrical; each sausage of a pair is at least 35 cm long and 2 to 3 cm thick, and a pair weighs at least 450 g. The casing is dark brown to reddish, without spots, mould, wrinkles or damage. The sausage is firm and elastic without being rubbery, cuts well, does not crumble and is easy to chew.

When cut, the filling is brown to dark red and dense, without holes or cracks; the fat is white to orange. The evenly distributed pieces of meat and fat form a mosaic. On the outside the sausage smells of the smoke of ash, hornbeam or beech wood, on the inside of fermented meat and garlic. In the mouth, fermented meat, salt, garlic, paprika and pepper combine into a slightly spicy taste without bitterness or acidity. The fat content is at most 40 %.

It is sold whole or sliced and packaged.

Production

Meat and fat come from fattening pigs or sows not intended for breeding that are at least 12 months old and weigh at least 140 kg. The native Black Slavonian pig is permitted, as are pure breeds and their crosses, but not hybrid pigs or Piétrain. At least 70 % of the filling is pork from the shoulder, neck, flank or breast; up to 30 % of this may be replaced by leg or loin muscle. Firm fat can make up to 30 %.

The meat is minced, seasoned with salt, sweet and hot paprika, pepper and garlic, and mixed. The amount of paprika, especially hot paprika, depends on consumers’ wishes. It is filled into cleaned, dried pork small intestine, which is twisted once in the middle and hung, folded into two equal halves, over wooden poles. Over at least 45 days the sausage is fermented, smoked, dried and ripened. The smoke is produced by smouldering sawdust or chips of ash, hornbeam or beech wood and may be no warmer than 25 °C; it supports fermentation and drying. All steps take place in Slavonia.

Origin & history

Slavonia lies in north-eastern Croatia between the Drava in the north, the Sava in the south and the Danube in the east. According to the specification, it is the country’s most important agricultural region, with fertile fields, oak forests and pastures that have always favoured pig farming. Pig farming began after the end of Ottoman rule, at first mainly for bacon and fat. At the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Germans, Hungarians and Czechs settled there and passed on their knowledge of making sausages and dried meat to the farms.

The sausage is traditionally given as a gift and, on St Vincent’s Day, at the blessing of the vineyards, hung on the vines as a symbol of fertility, a custom that is still alive today. Donji Miholjac and Osijek have their own sausage festivals. Since 2014 the Faculty of Food Technology in Osijek has offered training for producers on family farms.