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Meat from Hungary

Gyulai kolbász / Gyulai pároskolbász PGIGyulai kolbász

Gyulai kolbász is a thin paprika sausage from Gyula, sold in pairs. Hand-boned pork and firm lard are minced to 4–6 mm with salt, paprika, garlic, pepper, ground caraway and nitrite salt, filled into pig small intestine, smoked over beech for two to three days at 20 °C and dried for about 14 to 16 days until the water activity reaches 0.91.

Fully documentedMeat16 days – 19 daysPGI (Reg. (EU) No 530/2010)

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-gyulai-2009]
Firm lardFree of glands[eu-gyulai-2009]
Salt, sweet and hot ground paprika, garlic, pepper and ground caraway[eu-gyulai-2009]
Nitrite salt[eu-gyulai-2009]
Pig small intestineOr a vapour-permeable artificial casing for sausage sold sliced[eu-gyulai-2009]

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days – 19 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

Gyulai kolbász is a thin paprika sausage from Gyula, sold in pairs. Hand-boned pork and firm lard are minced to 4–6 mm with salt, paprika, garlic, pepper, ground caraway and nitrite salt, filled into pig small intestine, smoked over beech for two to three days at 20 °C and dried for about 14 to 16 days until the water activity reaches 0.91. Made in 5 steps over 16 days – 19 days. The longest step, cure and dry to a water activity of 0.91, takes 14–16 days (Publication of an application 2004) and runs at 16–18 °C (Publication of an application 2004).

Key numbers
Main step14–16 daysSet[eu-gyulai-2009]Cure and dry to a water activity of 0.91
Temperature16–18 °CSet[eu-gyulai-2009]Cure and dry to a water activity of 0.91

What makes this one different

Gyulai is the thin sausage of the pair, in pig small intestine, smoked for two to three days and dried in about two weeks. Csabai kolbász, from the same towns, is thicker, hotter and dries for about six weeks.

Related ferments

Safety

The specification sets a water activity of at most 0.91 and at most 5.0 % salt. This is raw pork that is smoked and dried with no cooking step, and CDC says curing, drying or smoking alone does not consistently kill Trichinella worms. Oregon's rules for shops making dry sausage require certified trichina-free pork, a commercial starter, a pH test and a water-activity test on each batch, and a process shown to cut E. coli O157:H7 by 5 log. This page describes commercial production under a specification; it is not a tested home recipe.

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 European Commission's page on the PGI says the sausage won its first international prize in 1910, thanks to master butcher József Balogh Jr. (gold medal, Brussels World's Fair). It says András Stéberl, Balogh's apprentice in 1912, played a key role in mechanising production, and that in 1935 Stéberl's "small paired Gyulai kolbász" won a gold certificate at an international fair. A Hungarian tourism magazine tells the 1935 story too. Stéberl's sausages were eaten up before an international contest in Paris in 1934, and the next year the small pair won a gold award at the Belgian World Fair. PGI since Reg. (EU) No 530/2010, adopted on 18 June 2010.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [ec-gyulai-page] European Commission, Gyulai kolbász or Gyulai pároskolbász PGI (agriculture.ec.europa.eu, GI food and drink register page)gov
  2. [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
  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-reg-530-2010] European Commission 2010, Commission Regulation (EU) No 530/2010 of 18 June 2010 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (Gyulai kolbász/Gyulai pároskolbász (PGI)), Official Journal L 154, 19.6.2010, p. 1 (CELEX 32010R0530)spec
  5. [hellohungary-sausages] Hello Hungary (editorial), Sausage, sausage everywhere - the secret of Gyulai and Csabai sausages, hellohungary.huweb
  6. [lesic2021] Lešić T. et al. 2021, Mycobiota and mycotoxin contamination of traditional and industrial dry-fermented sausage Kulen, Toxins 13(11):798paper
  7. [cdc-trichinella] CDC, How to Prevent Trichinellosis (12 March 2024)gov
  8. [oha-sausage] Oregon Health Authority, Special Processes Guidance No. 2, Dry Fermented Sausage, HACCP checklist for operators (rev. 01/15)gov