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Meat from Hungary

Csabai kolbász / Csabai vastagkolbász PGICsabai kolbász

Csabai kolbász is a thick, hot paprika sausage from Békéscsaba and Gyula. Hand-boned pork and firm lard are minced to 4–6 mm with paprika, garlic, caraway, salt and nitrite salt, stuffed into pig large intestine, smoked over beech for three to five days at 20 °C and then dried until the water activity reaches 0.91, which takes about six weeks in natural casing.

Fully documentedMeat31 days – 47 daysPGI (Reg. (EU) No 531/2010)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification names the ingredients and process but not their amounts.
PorkLeg, shoulder, knuckle, belly, loin and collar, boned by hand, from pigs of at least 135 kg[eu-csabai-2009]
Firm lardFree of glands[eu-csabai-2009]
Sweet and hot ground paprikaThe hot paprika is the leading flavour[eu-csabai-2009]
Garlic, whole caraway seed and salt[eu-csabai-2009]
Nitrite salt[eu-csabai-2009]
Pig large intestineOr a vapour-permeable artificial casing[eu-csabai-2009]

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days – 47 days

Start
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-4–0 °C

What changes: Cold meat and lard are minced to 4–6 mm and spiced

Step 1 of 5
Mince chilled meat and lard; add spices and nitrite salt
Time
Not documented
Temperature
-4–0 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Csabai kolbász is a thick, hot paprika sausage from Békéscsaba and Gyula. Hand-boned pork and firm lard are minced to 4–6 mm with paprika, garlic, caraway, salt and nitrite salt, stuffed into pig large intestine, smoked over beech for three to five days at 20 °C and then dried until the water activity reaches 0.91, which takes about six weeks in natural casing. Made in 5 steps over 31 days – 47 days. The longest step, cure and dry to a water activity of 0.91, takes 28–42 days (Publication of an application 2004) and runs at 16–18 °C (Publication of an application 2004).

Key numbers
Main step28–42 daysSet[eu-csabai-2009]Cure and dry to a water activity of 0.91
Temperature16–18 °CSet[eu-csabai-2009]Cure and dry to a water activity of 0.91

What makes this one different

Csabai is the thick sausage of the pair, filled into pig large intestine and dried for about six weeks. Gyulai kolbász, from the same two towns, uses the thin small intestine in pairs and dries in about two weeks.

Related ferments

Safety

The specification sets a water activity of at most 0.91 and nitrite salt in the batter. Smoking at 20 °C does not cook the pork. Curing, drying and smoking alone do not consistently kill Trichinella worms in pork (CDC). CDC tells people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid unheated fermented or dry sausages, or to heat them until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Mycotoxins (cyclopiazonic acid or ochratoxin A in 69 % of traditional Croatian kulen samples, a related smoked paprika dry sausage); not tested in this sausage.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The specification traces commercial production to a Békéscsaba company founded in 1911; the name appears in print in the 1930s. A Hungarian tourism magazine adds that pig keeping grew enough for meat processing to matter only from the early 20th century, that the sausage was known nationwide by the 1930s, and that the local industry association then moved to trademark the name. PGI since Reg. (EU) No 531/2010, adopted on 18 June 2010.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [cdc-trichinella] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, How to Prevent Trichinellosis (12 March 2024)gov
  2. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov
  3. [eu-csabai-2009] Publication of an application: 'Csabai kolbász' or 'Csabai vastagkolbász', EC No HU-PGI-0005-0390-21.10.2004, Official Journal of the European Union C 248, 16.10.2009, p. 22 (CELEX 52009XC1016(03))spec
  4. [eu-gyulai-2009] Publication of an application: 'Gyulai kolbász' or 'Gyulai pároskolbász', EC No HU-PDO-0005-0394-21.10.2004 (as printed), Official Journal of the European Union C 248, 16.10.2009, p. 26 (CELEX 52009XC1016(04))spec
  5. [eu-reg-531-2010] European Commission 2010, Commission Regulation (EU) No 531/2010 of 18 June 2010 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (Csabai kolbász/Csabai vastagkolbász (PGI)), Official Journal L 154, 19.6.2010, p. 3 (CELEX 32010R0531)spec
  6. [hellohungary-sausages] Hello Hungary (editorial), Sausage, sausage everywhere - the secret of Gyulai and Csabai sausages, hellohungary.huweb
  7. [lesic2021] Lešić T. et al. 2021, Mycobiota and mycotoxin contamination of traditional and industrial dry-fermented sausage Kulen, Toxins 13(11):798paper