As I was munching on one of my favorite holiday snacks- summer sausage with a nice sharp cheddar, real mayo on rye- it occured to me that while I do occassionally see summer sausage at other times of the year, it’s typically a fall and winter item. Which of course, bears the question- wouldn’t fall or winter sausage be more appropriate?
Trusting ye old faithful google, I punched the term in there, and even wikipedia doesn’t seem to have a satisfactory answer, instead simply making the brilliant observation I myself made. So I brought it here, searched Cecil’s old columns… apparently summer sausage has something to do with old Beatles album covers, but I didn’t think that quite got to the nature of my question, put simply- why do we call it “summer sausage” anyway?
Anyone have any ideas? Wikipedia was perplexed as well, stating that it’s mostly made in the fall during the hunting season, but that’s about all I could find regarding it. Apologies if this one’s already been covered, but I couldn’t seem to find a search function for the boards.
Summer sausage is a type of sausage that cures by fermentation. As a result, it tends to have a much greater resistance to spoilage. You can make it, and keep it, during the hot summer months.
Or so I learned from many of the local butchers in my area, who specialized in making summer sausage. Or Somer Sausage, to quote the germanic origins.
I love Summer Sausage. partly because me German grandma loved it, and always had it around. She had a(unfulfilled ) life long quest to find some like the stuff she had growing up.
My favorite thing thought is to slice it thin, and leave it on a plate in the fridge cover with paper towel for a week or so. It turns into summer sausage jerky, with the flavor concentrated and a good satisfying rip against your teeth just like normal jerky.
I still loves me my local butcher’s summer sausage. He makes a jalapeno variety that’s especially delicious on pizza. Also the hungarian version is laden with paprika for another dimension of flavor. And they’ve both got that tang you get with fermented foods.
They’re pretty damn similar if not just variations on the essential summer sausage recipe, basically. According to this source, Lebanon bologna was just another variety of summer sausage made in Lebanon, PA along with bratwurst and a variety of other traditional german wursts. But the larger size of the summer sausage made there caused locals to refer to it as bologna to distinguish it from the smaller diameter summer sausages.
) life long quest to find some like the stuff she had growing up.