Chinese Sausages

[NickV]

The Asian grocery that I've been frequenting lately has a variety of Chinese sausages. I've never cooked with them before, but I'd like to. Most are vacuum packed and produced in either the US or Canada. I was wondering if anyone had any brands they liked and any favorite uses. Thanks.

[lilac0485]

A Chinese steamed egg custard with the sausages and salt eggs.

[lannie]

I like the Dollar Food Mfg. Inc. brand (has a big red $ sign on it). The company is from Vancouver and also has a shop in Chinatown selling prepared meats (the "Kau Yuk" (steamed fatty pork and yam - a Hakka dish) is one of my favourites).

Anyway, I like the "Pork and Chicken Liver" sausage. I think that it has much more flavour than the regular 'lap cheong'. Usually, I steam them and serve them with sliced cucumbers - a simple dish from my childhood. I also slice them up and use them in fried noodle dishes. They also taste good in Vietnamese-style salad rolls or Malaysian Popiah (a kind of spring roll). Sometimes, I just toss a few sausages into the rice cooker with the rice - voila, sausage-infused rice.........

Edited April 27, 2004 by lannie (log)

[lilac0485]

We do steamed sausage on rice too. When I was younger, my sister and I would carefully divide up the flavored rice, and my Mom never got any.

And for a quick dinner, noodles topped with the sausages and some king of green vegetable. I've made that many times when just cooking for one.

I second the recommendation for the Dollar Brand, I couldn't think of it before, but I'm pretty sure that's what my parents always buy in Vancouver.

[scott123]

I've been reading the ingredients on every Chinese sausage I can find. Is there such a thing as a Chinese sausage without sugar?

[mudbug]

I've been reading the ingredients on every Chinese sausage I can find. Is there such a thing as a Chinese sausage without sugar?

Recipe without sugar here.

[NulloModo]

I've been reading the ingredients on every Chinese sausage I can find.  Is there such a thing as a Chinese sausage without sugar?

Recipe without sugar here.

Sucrose is sugar. There would probably be a way to leave it out however...

[aprilmei]

I'm living in Hong Kong now but grew up in the States eating laap cheung and yuen cheung (liver sausage) from North America. The sausages here are much less sweet and also not as fatty - they're meatier tasting. They're very very different but I like both types. I often bring North American laap cheung and yuen cheung back to Hong Kong but it's difficult to do it the other way around - my cousin was caught and the US Customs people made her toss the lot (fortunately they didn't fine her). I'm not sure if we can bring them into to the States if they're vacuum-sealed but they're not sold that way.

[fido dido]

I have lived in Hong Kong and New York, and know exactly what the last post meant about the oiliness. IMHO, the absolute best sausage to be had anywhere (New York, Hong Kong, Vancouver, LA, San Fran included!) is from a Chinese butcher in NYC Chinatown, at the intersection of Elizabeth and Bayard, called Duk Cheong. My uncle knows the guy who makes the sausages, and ironically, he's from Vietnam, I believe. But they're unsurpassed in their richness of flavor and denseness of texture. Also, the casing is of a very high quality, so it doesn't do that gross peeling and separating thing that a lot of supermarket sausages do.

Other things to do with Chinese sausages - in Hong Kong you can get something called Lap Mei Fan. Lap Mei is the category of hams and sausages and other dried meats (duck, pork, gizzards, etc.) that are all preserved in a similar fasion to the Chinese sausages. Just get a selection of these and steam them on top of rice. Serve with a side of slightly sweetened dark soy sauce and veggies. *sigh* One of my most favorite meal memories is of my grandfather picking us up from my first day of school in Hong Kong and driving us to a restaurant to celebrate with a huge casserole of its signature lap mei fan.

[lorea]

I've been reading the ingredients on every Chinese sausage I can find. Is there such a thing as a Chinese sausage without sugar?

The greatest part of Chinese sausages is the sweetness! Taking away the sugar would make it...non-Chinese sausage?

I forgot the name of the brand I like the best, but it has very short, pudgy sausages.

It's fantastic in fried rice....take a few pieces and flavor the oil with it (along with the whites of the scallions) before stir-frying the rice.

It's also great stir-fried with cabbage.

[aprilmei]

Other things to do with Chinese sausages - in Hong Kong you can get something called Lap Mei Fan.  Lap Mei is the category of hams and sausages and other dried meats (duck, pork, gizzards, etc.) that are all preserved in a similar fasion to the Chinese sausages.  Just get a selection of these and steam them on top of rice.  Serve with a side of slightly sweetened dark soy sauce and veggies.  *sigh*  One of my most favorite meal memories is of my grandfather picking us up from my first day of school in Hong Kong and driving us to a restaurant to celebrate with a huge casserole of its signature lap mei fan.

This is wonderful winter food. It's best in a sandpot (bo jai) so the rice gets that lovely burnt crust. This is easy to make at home but for some reason it's never as good as when eating it at a roadside stall when it's cold outside.

[Ce'nedra]

My uncle knows the guy who makes the sausages, and ironically, he's from Vietnam, I believe. 

A huge number of Vietnamese immigrants in the US, Australia, etc are actually ethnic Chinese so it's not so surprising.

Anyway, I adore lap cheong! I'd recommend adding them to claypot chicken rice to give it that smoky sweetness. Realllyyy good.

Here in Oz (and I'm sure elsewhere too), we can purchase the sausages in a range of fat content (like 50% fat, 24% fat, etc). I think the less the more expensive. My parents, having become health freaks, always get the least fatty ones (even if they don't taste as good...poor me).

Edit:

I hear Singapore does organic lap cheong too. Unfortunately, I haven't heard of that here yet.

Edited November 15, 2008 by Ce'nedra (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Does anyone have a recipe for actually making Chinese sausages? Just started to make my own Western ones but i'd love to be able to make my own lap cheung or yun cheung. I've stopped buying them as the only brands i can get around here have a horrible chemical aftertaste.

[muichoi]

Yes-coarsely ground fatty pork, dark soy, salt, sugar, five spice, chinese wine, cure#1. Fill into sheep casings, twist and tie and dry for about a week.

[Ce'nedra]

Are there any brands that are known to be all-natural?

The ones my mum buys are made by a specific Chinese butcher and the lap cheong doesn't taste at all artificial but I'm hoping I can find some that are 100% certified...

Edited November 16, 2008 by Ce'nedra (log)

[HKDave]

Does anyone have a recipe for actually making Chinese sausages?  Just started to make my own Western ones but i'd love to be able to make my own lap cheung or yun cheung.  I've stopped buying them as the only brands i can get around here have a horrible chemical aftertaste.

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Here's a recipe from Len Poli's excellent sausagemaking website: http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Lop%20Chong.pdf

I think that the smoker is used in that recipe for cooking/drying, not smoking.