Csabai Kolbász
Smoked, hot sausage of Békéscsaba, in Békés county. The town of Gyula, twenty kilometres away, champions a kolbász with milder paprika, treated in a separate entry.
| Lean pork shoulder | 650 g |
| Pork jowl or hard fatback | 350 g |
| Fine salt | 22 g |
| Hot Hungarian paprika (erős) | 20 g |
| Sweet paprika | 10 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 12 g |
| Whole caraway | 3 g |
| Ground black pepper | 2 g |
| Cold water | 40 ml |
| Pig’s large intestine (Ø 40–60 mm) | — |
- Preparation: Trim the meats, carefully removing all tendons and connective tissue (the PGI specification requires manual boning). Cut into cubes. Chill hard.
- Mincing: Mince through the 4 to 6 mm plate.
- Seasoning: Lightly crush the caraway in a mortar. Mix all the dry ingredients, the garlic and the water with the meat. Knead to a sticky consistency and uniform colour.
- Resting: Marinate for 24 to 48 hours in the refrigerator.
- Stuffing: Stuff into the pig’s large intestine, in sausages of 20 to 55 cm or in a horseshoe.
- Surface-drying: Hang for 12 to 24 hours in a cool, ventilated place.
- Smoking: Cold-smoke (18–20 °C) over beech wood for 3 to 5 days, at 70–90 % RH.
- Maturing: Dry for 4 to 6 weeks at 16–18 °C, gradually reducing the humidity from 90 % to 65 %. The sausage loses about a third of its weight during this phase.
- Serving: Eat in thin slices, without cooking, on bread with fresh green pepper and gherkins.
Békéscsaba and Gyula, two towns twenty kilometres apart in Békés county, each produce a dried sausage protected by a PGI registered in 2010. The production perimeter of the two PGIs is identical: the administrative limits of Békéscsaba and Gyula. The two sausages share the same pigs of the Great Plain and the same principle of making: cold-smoking over beech wood, then drying. What separates them lies in the recipe, the calibre of the casing and, in consequence, the length of the smoking and the drying. The Csabai, stuffed into the large intestine (kuláré, calibre 40 to 60 mm), is smoked for three to five days and dried for four to six weeks. The Gyulai, stuffed into the small intestine (calibre 26 to 40 mm) and sold in pairs (pároskolbász), is smoked for two to three days and dried for fourteen to sixteen days.
The Csabai kolbász is the hot version of the pair. The hot paprika (erős) dominates the forcemeat, completed by the caraway, which brings an aniseed, earthy note. The smoking is done cold over beech wood. The PGI specification requires manual boning with complete removal of the tendons and the use of beech wood.
The charcuterie tradition of Békéscsaba has been on record since 1868. The success of the Csabai at the beginning of the twentieth century was attributed by local sources to the combination of a rigorous preparation method and the quality of the Great Plain’s paprika. The Csaba sausage festival (Csabai Kolbászfesztivál), held every October since 1997, brings together artisanal producers and visitors around tastings, competitions and demonstrations of the craft.
The Csabai is eaten thinly sliced, on bread, with fresh green pepper (zöldpaprika) and gherkins. It also forms part of the composition of lecsó (pepper stew) and paprikás krumpli (potato stew with paprika), where its hot flavour permeates the dish during cooking.
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