Eat My Globe

The Wurst is Yet to Come: The History of the Sausage & the Pudding

Simon Majumdar (“SM”):

Hi April.

April Simpson (“AS”):

Yeah, Simon.

SM:

What do rebellious teenagers tell their parents?

AS:

I don’t know Simon. What do rebellious teenagers tell their parents?

SM:

You’re the wurst! You’re the wurst!

AS:

[Laughter]

INTRO MUSIC

SM:

Hi everybody.

Welcome to a brand-new episode of Eat My Globe, a podcast about things you didn’t know you didn’t know about food.

And, on today’s very special episode, we are going to be looking at the fascinating world of the sausage & the pudding. Stop sniggering at the back.

We’ll be looking at the origins of the sausage and the blood pudding, how far back in history it goes, how it developed in each country that had sausages, and some interesting, or at least I thought so, facts about how many sausages are produced worldwide every day. We’ll talk about some of the dishes it is used in around the globe as well.

However, before we do that, let’s do what we always do on Eat My Globe. Let’s start with defining the words themselves – sausages and puddings.

The word, “sausage,” is derived from the Latin word, “Salsus,” which means “salted” in Latin. These sausages were as Merriam-Webster puts it

Quote

“a seasoned minced or ground meat (such as pork, beef, or poultry) stuffed in casings usually of prepared animal intestine or made into patties.”

End quote.

Or, as “The Diner’s Dictionary” by John Ayto says

Quote

“One of the first convenience foods, the sausage’s very name preserves its preservative origins, it goes back via Old Northern French saussiche to medieval Latin salcisia ‘sausage,’ which was a derivative of Latin salsus ‘salted’.”

End quote.

These sausages can also be made of fish or cheese or maybe pickled, smoked or fresh.

Ayto further states that a “pudding” was a sausage. And the word “pudding” is derived from the Latin word, “botellus,” meaning intestines.

This developed as the French word, “boudin.”

This became the English word, “pudding,” which according to the Oxford English Dictionary was first used in 1287.

It now has a number of different meanings. In the US, the word “pudding” is, as Emmy Schneider Green writes in Chowhound,

Quote

“something sweet and custard-based or jelly-like in texture. Think the classic chocolate pudding, rice pudding, or even tapioca — all are sweets with a jiggly, creamy consistency.”

End quote.

Whereas in Britain, the term had a longer history, it now has a myriad of uses. It can mean a dessert, although not like an American dessert. These are desserts that used a pudding cloth enclosure in which the pudding was kept while being boiled or steamed. These would include things like the notorious, “Spotted Dick,” the “Christmas Pudding,” which is sometimes known as the “Figgy Pudding,” and one of my favorite desserts the “Sticky Toffee Pudding” or the “Sticky Date Pudding.”

Mmm.

It can also be something like the “Yorkshire Pudding,” which first appeared as a recipe in 1737 in a guide known as “The Whole Duty of a Woman.” However, I think it is possible that the British have been making them before then. Yorkshire puds is a form of “batter pudding” made with flour, milk, eggs and salt. I typically make it by placing the batter under a joint of roast beef to catch the juices and then rise. This is now part of the typical accoutrements of the British roast dinner. Although, these modern Yorkshire puddings are now made individually.

For the record, I love them.

But the main reason I’m talking about pudding here is because of the black pudding. This is, as Alan Davidson puts it in “The Oxford Companion to Food”

Quote

“Sausages filled with blood, with cereal or other vegetable matter, to absorb this, and fat.”

End quote.

Davidson notes that this type of sausage has the longest history of any types of sausage we have in the world right now.

There are mentions of salted meat and meat stuffed in intestine casings in the Yale Babylonian Collection, which is a series of clay tablets whose recipes are the oldest currently found in existence. These recipes date back to about 4,000 years.

And, the blood pudding can also find its way back to Homer’s “The Odyssey,” written in the 8^th century BCE, where Homer describes a sausage as

Quote

“Here at the fire are goats' paunches lying, which we set there for supper, when we had filled them with fat and blood.”

End quote.

And in ancient Rome, it had a number of mentions, including a Little Sauage, which are blood sausages with hard boiled eggs; a Lucanian Sausage, which are pork sausages; a Round Sausage, which are smoked sausages; and other varieties of sausages.

The ancient Chinese have also been making sausages since 600 BCE.

And in 2007, someone found a 600-year-old German recipe for Thuringian bratwurst, which requires the use of the purest meat made with beef and pork.

You will now find “blood sausages” in many parts of the world. In fact, Taste Atlas names at least 28 of them. They can be found from places like Romania called Sângerete, Germany called Blutwurst, South Korea called Sundae sausages, France called Boudin Noir, and in Finland called Mustamakkara. I have tried all of these very different types of blood sausages in the countries from which they come. They are all WIENERS! Get it?

AS:

Laughter

SM:

Oh Syb, Syb, Syb.

In addition, I particularly love the “Morcilla,” which include the “Morcilla de Burgos,” which includes a filling of rice. And, my particular favorite from Spain, which is the “Morcilla de Matachana León,” which is served uncased and is usually placed on toast. Fantastic stuff. If you haven’t tried it, you must go and try it.

Unsurprisingly though, my favorite will be the British black pudding. The “capital” of making this pudding is Bury, which is a town in Lancashire, England, where they have been making black pudding for 200 years.

When I was writing my book, “Eating for Britain,” I went to visit one of the most well-known black pudding companies known as, “The Bury Black Pudding Company.” It is a fascinating experience. Black pudding now is known for its place on the “Great English Breakfast” or Welsh breakfast, Scottish breakfast, or Northern Irish breakfast, which you can buy at the most “greasy spoons,” a term for the old-style cafes or diners of Britain. By the way, if you want to learn more about greasy spoons, do check out the Eat My Globe episode on the history of restaurants where I talk about it there.

Anyway, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, greasy spoon originally meant,

Quote

“usually included words along the lines of lousy, wind up eating in, slinging hash, the underside of society, settle for, or rather starve.”

End quote.

However, as Merriam-Webster mentions, it’s now getting a revisit.

Quote

“Since the 1970s, the descriptions might contain words like fabled, distinction, beloved, classic, an institution, fondness for, and comfort food. Now you can consult a Greasy Spoon Guide and read up on Best Greasy Spoons.”

End quote.

I really don’t mind greasy spoons. As long as I can get some of these beautiful sliced black pudding served with fried eggs, pork sausages – you can tell I’m getting hungrier, can’t you? – baked beans, bacon, fried bread, tomatoes, mushrooms along with some of my beloved HP Sauce and a cup of Builder’s tea. I’m sorry but I am drinking some Builder's tea now. That felt better.

For those who don’t know, HP Sauce looks like A1 Steak Sauce but it’s sooooo much better, in my opinion. I also talked about HP Sauce’s history on the Eat My Globe episode on the history of sauces. Do check it out whenever you find time.

Anyway. Let’s move on to sausages themselves.

Gary Allen, the author of “Sausage: A Global History,” tells writer Linda Rodriquez McRobbie of Taste Atlas that

Quote

“Sausages were created originally for two reasons: One, to make use of every little piece of the meat, so nothing is wasted, and two, by using salt and smoking, it was a way to preserve it.”

End quote.

These sausages have a history that goes back to the ancient Babylonians, but as with so many ingredients, sausages became popular amongst the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans.

As I said before, the Greeks began to create sausages using blood. And in Aristophanes’ play, “The Knights,” there is a sausage salesperson – I want that job, I really do – who went from that position to becoming the leader of the people.

It is, however, the ancient Romans who, I think, took the sausage to the next level, as they apparently, not only ate an enormous amount of them but also a variety of them.

Juvenal mentions sausages in his work, “The Satires,” where the protagonists are looking for a sausage called, “tomaculus.”

Petronius, in his work, “Satyricon,” also talks about the sausage, “tomaculus.”

According to author Sue Shephard in her book, “Pickled, Potted and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving Changed the World,” there are other sausages called “pendulus,” which she describes as a large slicing sausage, and “hilla,” which she describes as a thin sausage using intestines.

However, it is in the Roman cookbook, “De re Coquinaria” or “Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome,” a work that is attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius but is now attributed to three authors, that we begin to see sausages mentioned as a staple.

One of my favorites comes from Book II of “De Re Coquinaria,” where Apicius creates a Lucanian sausage – that is, from the area of Lucania in Southern Italy.

Quote

“Crush pepper, cumin, savory, rue, parsley, condiment, laurel berries and broth; Mix with finely chopped (fresh pork) and pound well with broth. To this mixture, being rich, add whole pepper and nuts. When filling casings carefully push the meat through. Hang sausage up to smoke.”

End quote.

That seems like something I might make at home here. It sounds delicious.

As John Ayto says in his book, “The Diners Dictionary,”

Quote

“The Romans introduced into northern and western Europe the cylindrical sausage of spiced meat stuffed into a skin of animal intestine.”

End quote.

The Lucanian sausage’s influence can still be felt today. Charles Perry at the Los Angeles Times argues that the Luganega in Italy, Longaniza in Spain, Linguiça in Portugal, Loukaniko in Greece, Lukanka in Bulgaria, and more find a common ancestor in the ancient Roman Lucanian sausage. And one can only assume that this Lucanian sausage was SPREAD – see what I did there? – by the ancient Romans as they moved around Europe and beyond.

It is, after all, a LINK to our past. Get it?

Oh.

Moving on. It wouldn’t be very interesting for me just to go and name sausages from different countries. However, I thought it would be worth picking up some of the history of some of them, if that makes sense.

So, let’s talk about Germany. For me, Germany is the unofficial capital of sausage making.

The Daily Meal says that Germany has at least

Quote

“a dizzying array of more than 1,200 types of sausages made of various kinds of meat.”

End quote.

For example, the “Weisswurst” is a white sausage that originates in the Bavarian area of Munich, and is made with veal, pork and pork fat. It is usually cut into slices, as the casing is not considered suitable for eating.

Whenever I go to Munich, this is always one of the first things I have for a mid-morning snack.

Taste Atlas warns that

Quote

“it is considered a taboo to eat Weisswurst after noon in Bavaria. This tradition stems from the past when the sausages were made fresh, and were supposed to be consumed as quickly as possible.”

End quote.

It was created by a local butcher called Sepp Moser in 1857 when he used up the last casings he had been given for other sausages. This left him with only thin casings to use. Because of the thin casings, he decided to boil them for 10 minutes rather than fry them to prevent the sausages from bursting. Thankfully, his “Weisswurst” creation wasn’t the WURST. See what I did there?

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

While we’re still in Germany, I wanted to mention a sausage dish that is another of my absolute favorites – “Currywurst.” The Cambridge Dictionary describes it as

Quote

“a German fast food dish consisting of a sausage consisting of a sauce made of ketchup (= Tomato sauce) mixed with curry powder and usually served with chips.”

End quote.

There are many versions of the currywurst’s origin story so I’m just gonna share the version from the National Geographic.

Imagine, it’s 1949. Four years after the end of World War II, a German snack operator in Berlin named Herta Heuwer was at home and apparently, bored. She decided to experiment in her kitchen with ingredients that arrived in Germany due to US and British military occupation after the war – ketchup and curry powder. She began to think what she’d create with this and came up with a mixture of curry powder, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and a pork sausage. She initially called it, “Chillup,” for Chili and Ketchup. It didn’t become known as “Currywurst,” until after 1959, after Heuwer had refined her recipe.

According to NPR, Currywurst became

Quote

“a staple, mainly amongst construction workers who valued its high protein content, hint of exotic flavor, and low cost.”

End quote.

Over time, it found itself becoming one of Germany’s favorite street food dishes. These days, they sell some 800 million Currywursts every year in Germany.

On my occasions in Berlin, I often find myself going to “Curry 36” just to buy one.

Let’s just say that the invention of the Currywurst didn’t turn out to be the WURST-CASE scenario.

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

Let’s move on to Switzerland. On 9^th of March 1522, there was an event that took place which was known as

Quote

“The ostentatious eating of sausages.”

End quote.

Or

Quote

“The Affair of the Sausages.”

End quote.

It was March 9, 1522, the first Sunday of Lent, which was the time of the year when Christians fasted and abstained from eating meat. A Zurich-based printer known as Christoph Froschauer hosted a dinner party. He was joined by eleven others, including Ulrich Zwingli, a Canon, whose speeches were becoming more popular amongst the people in Switzerland and who believed fasting should not be a church rule. So what happened? Froschauer and his wife served sausages. So, the serving and eating of sausages was an act of rebellion. Who knew? And this sausage dinner party apparently started the Reformation in the country.

Let’s move on to Portugal. In 1536, many of the Jewish people who were being discriminated against either left the country or stayed in Portugal with fears of conversions to Christianity or executions brought on by the Inquisition. In one area of Portugal, “Trás-os-Montes,” the Christian families used to make pork sausage that they hung from the beams to air dry.

Noticeably, the Jewish population would not have one of these tell-tale sausages hanging because of their avoidance of pork. The Ashkenazi people of the area decided to create a bread and chicken sausage that looked the same as the Christian sausage. This stopped them being caught by the informers who would go and tell the Inquisition about these families.

They called this sausage the “Alheira de Mirandela.” Over the years the dish has become famous throughout Portugal, although no longer kosher. As of 2011, it has been named as one of Portugal’s seven of the nation’s gastronomic wonders.

Sounds great.

In the U.K., we have one of our most popular pub dishes, “Bangers & Mash.” But where did this term for the sausages come to be? According to Encyclopedia Britannica,

Quote

“The term bangers supposedly originated during World War 1, when meat shortages resulted in sausages’ being made with a number of fillers, notably water, that caused them to explode when cooked.”

End quote.

As the sausages would be cooked in a frying pan, their sides would burst and they would emit a loud bang or pop as the heat got to them. Hence the name, “Bangers.”

Nowadays, sausages are obviously a lot better than their First World War equivalents, but the term “Bangers” still stays with us. Now, this is a dish that I can often make at home, but really it sums up a night in a pub, sitting by the fire. A pint of bitter in one hand and the presentation of mashed potato, hence “Mash.” I like my bangers and mash with two or three pork sausages, some green peas, topped with some rich and dark onion gravy, made with a little wine or beer. And my own choice, a Cumberland sausage, which is a coiled sausage made, as the name suggests, in the region of Cumberland near the border with Scotland.

If made well, I think “bangers & mash” is one of the best dishes on earth. 

In this period when people have been filling the original “Bangers” with fillers, it is unsurprising that the adulteration of sausages and other meat products was rampant.

In 1905, a journalist and author by the name of Upton Sinclair began a seven-week investigation into the way Chicago stockyards worked. He turned his investigation into a novel, “The Jungle.” The novel was a hit – a BANGER, if you will – and would be translated into dozens of other languages.

He wrote of these stockyards

Quote

“There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage ;  there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was mouldy and white – it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption.”

End quote.

Eiw.

These stories began to make the wider population aware of what was happening with the food they were being asked to eat. And, in 1906, people were presented with “The Food and Drugs Act.”

Let’s have a look at a few of my other favorite sausages though.

One of my favourites is “Andouille,” which comes from France. It was made with a pig casing that was filled with pig stomach and intestines, onions and spices. It was poached rather than using smoke and then cut into thin slices.

Once the “Andouille” came to the US, it found its home in Louisiana. In particular, it found itself in an area that was populated by “Creole” and “Cajun” peoples. The “Cajun” folks, short for Acadian, first arrived in Louisiana from Normandy, France via Nova Scotia, Canada from the mid-1700s and began to alter the food that they found there to suit their tastes.

For example, “Jambalaya,” a rice dish that includes a bunch of seafood and andouille sausage, may have started off as the Spanish paella.

Another example is “Gumbo,” a soup that was of West African origin that now includes some andouille sausage.

Both jambalaya and gumbo needed a spicy sausage and that’s where “Andouille” began to change from the French version. As the author Gary Allen notes in his book, “Sausage: A Global History,”

Quote

“The French andouille evolved into a different species of sausage in the bayous; spicier and all pork, it leaves out the tripe used in the original.”

End quote.

However andouille evolved, the sausage is delicious.

Let’s move on to Argentina. One of my other go-to sausages is one of Argentina’s most popular street foods – the “Choripán.”

The name is a portmanteau of chorizo and pan, which means bread. Oh, but there is so much more to it than sausage and bread. The chorizo is either served whole or butterflied. It has a scent of so much garlic and paprika. It is, as Kevin Vaughn says in Serious Eats

Quote

“on certain days, when people gather en masse, the smell seems to permeate the city. And when it doesn’t, it doesn’t feel like a real celebration.”

End quote.

So true, Kevin. So true.

This sausage is then topped with “salsa criolla,” a salad that includes chilis, onions and lime.

It is also topped with a good amount of “Chimichurri.” This is an Argentinian sauce that is now becoming popular around the world. It is a sauce that has a blend of olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, parsley, cilantro and oregano. And, again, I talked about the history of chimichurri in a past episode of Eat My Globe. So do check it out.

Anyway, the choripán is then placed in a bread roll or baguette.

I have made so many of these sandwiches at home. But they are never as good as those when I bought them from a street stall holder in Buenos Aires.

Let’s move on to Taiwan. The Taiwanese make a street food sausage which is known as “Ian-chhiâng,” – please forgive my pronunciation of that one – which was one of our favorites to snack on as we walked through the streets of the famous markets of Taipei.

Taste Atlas says that these sausages are

Quote

“a traditional air-dried sausage and a street food favorite in Taiwan. Renowned for its exquisite flavor, this sausage is typically made with a mixture of fatty pork and garlic, flavored with rice wine, soy sauce, five-spice blend, sugar, salt, and black pepper.”

End quote.

After we arrived from our trip to Taipei, Sybil and I had to scour our local Asian market to find these Taiwanese sausages. They are well worth the effort. So do go and try them.

Finally, though, I wanted to talk to you about one of the most popular sausages of all time. One hundred million of these sausages are sold every year and it costs only $1.50 a time. You’ve guessed it. It is the Costco Beef Hot Dog sold with a soda outside all stores. It really does have the most fascinating history.

The first hot dog was sold in front of a Price Club warehouse in San Diego in 1984. Price Club was a rival warehouse store that became part of Costco once they merged back in 1993. Sol Price, who opened the first Price Club in 1976 on Morena Boulevard in San Diego explained that he had been fielding calls from entrepreneurs who wanted to set up hot dog carts in front of the store. In his infinite wisdom, he decided that his company should sell the hot dogs instead. Enter Jay de Geus, who was only three months into the job at Price Club in 1984 but as of 2009, was still working for Costco. Jay de Geus was tasked with manning the first hot dog cart that was provided by their hot dog supplier, Hebrew National. As Sol Price described it,

Quote

“The Hebrew National hot dog was an instant hit. The price of a Costco hot dog and soda has remained the same.”

End quote.

However, in 2009, and well after Costco and Price Club merged, Costco switched from Hebrew National to their own Kirkland brand that, according to Karen Miner at Mashed was

Quote

“a move that angered a legion of Hebrew National fans.”

End quote.

But to be FRANK with you,

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

Apologies for my wife everyone -- it turned out fine. The beef used is USDA Choice and people still love it.

As the founder and then-CEO of Costco, Jim Sinegal, apparently once said,

Quote

“If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.”

End quote.

In 2019, US Costcos sold $151 million of these food court sausages. Although, because this was a “loss leader,” a term that suggests it is supposed to bring customers to the store.

Again as writer Karen Miner says

Quote

“Costco realizes they aren't making money on their popular combo meal, and they're totally fine with that. The hot dogs are a loss leader, meaning that they attract customers with the promise of a dirt cheap lunch, who in turn go and spend hundreds on gigantic jars of pickles and reasonably priced electronics. [– That’d be me then –] At the end of the day, Costco is coming out waaaaaay ahead.”

End quote.       

I need to figure out how many of these hot dogs I have eaten. Rather a lot, I should think.

Anyway, as we can see, sausages are now in most countries food offerings. According to Statista, in 2025, the sausage industry was worth US$116.50 billion worldwide.

It also states that Germany generated the most revenue in 2025 at US$11 billion. Which is no surprise to me.

As you can see, I am a sausage lover. Once again, no sniggering at the back, please. And I am sure you are too.

There are so many other sausages to be mentioned. But I hope this has at least given you some ideas for next time you have a “sausage party.”

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

Did I get that last bit right? Ok.

[Laughter]

See you next week folks.

OUTRO MUSIC

SM:

Make sure to check out the website associated with this podcast at www.EatMyGlobe.com where we will be posting the transcripts from each episode, along with all the references and resources we used putting the episodes together, in case you want to delve deeper into each subject. There is also a contact button, so please do let us know if there are any subjects that you would like us to cover.

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Thank you and goodbye from me, Simon Majumdar, we’ll speak to you soon on the next episode of EAT MY GLOBE: Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Food.

CREDITS

The EAT MY GLOBE Podcast is a production of “It’s Not Much But It’s Ours” and “Producer Girl Productions.”

[Ring sound]

We would also like to thank Sybil Villanueva for all of her help both with the editing of the transcripts and her essential help with the research.