Prinskorv
Small cocktail sausage of the Julbord (the Swedish Christmas buffet). By the most widespread account, its name (the prince’s sausage) is said to come from the taste of a young prince of the royal house.
| Lean pork | 500 g |
| Lean veal | 300 g |
| Fatback | 200 g |
| Fine salt | 16 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Ground white pepper | 2 g |
| Ground ginger | 1 g |
| Grated nutmeg | 1 g |
| Onion powder | 2 g |
| Iced water | 80 ml |
| Potato starch | 20 g |
| Fine sheep casing (Ø 18–22 mm) | — |
- Preparation: Cut all the meats into cubes. Part-freeze at −3 °C.
- Mincing: Mince very finely in a bowl cutter or through the 2 to 3 mm plate to a smooth paste.
- Emulsion: Add the salt, the sugar and the spices. Gradually add the iced water mixed with the starch, beating vigorously. The forcemeat must be perfectly smooth and slightly sticky.
- Stuffing: Stuff into the very fine sheep casing. Form small sausages of 5 to 6 cm, twisting gently.
- Poaching: Poach for 8–10 minutes in water at 75 °C. Do not boil.
- Cooling: Cool quickly and refrigerate.
- Finishing: Brown in a pan in butter before serving. The prinskorv should be well-golden and glossy.
The name prinskorv means ‘the prince’s sausage’. The most widespread account attributes it to King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway's taste for this type of small, fine sausage at the end of the nineteenth century. Others see in it a flattering commercial name, common in the European charcuterie of the period.
The pork-and-veal composition is uncommon in traditional Swedish charcuterie. The veal contributes a finer texture and a characteristic paleness. The sugar in the forcemeat contributes to the caramelised browning obtained in the butter finish.
It is eaten chiefly at the Julbord, the great Swedish Christmas buffet, alongside the julskinka (Christmas ham), the köttbullar (meatballs), the janssons frestelse (potato and sprat gratin) and the risgrynsgröt (sweet rice porridge with cinnamon). Its presence at this buffet has been attested since the nineteenth century. Its sale is confined to December: it is one of the few sausages in this book whose sales concentrate in a single month of the year.
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