Chinese sausage

It has been suggested that La chang be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Chinese sausage is a generic term referring to the many different types of sausages that originated from China.

Variety

There is a choice of fatty or skimmed sausages. There are different kinds ranging in those made using fresh pork to those made using pig livers, duck livers and even turkey livers. Usually a livery sausage will be darker in colour than one made without liver. Recently, there have even been countries producing chicken Chinese sausages. Traditionally they are classified into two main types. It is sometimes rolled and steamed in dim sum.

• La Chang (臘腸) is a dried, hard sausage usually made from pork and a high content of fat. It is normally smoked, sweetened, and seasoned.
• Ren Chang (膶腸) is made using pork liver. Ren Chang is not sweet in taste.

Regional

Southern Chinese

Chinese sausage is used as an ingredient in quite a number of dishes in southern China, including Hong Kong and the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan, as well as countries in Southeast Asia. Two common examples of such dishes within Chinese cuisine include fried rice and lo mai gai.

Many other examples include popiah and char kway teow in Malaysia and Singapore. The traditional unpackaged forms are usually found in street market or wet markets.

Taiwan

Taiwan also produces a similar form of sausage, however, it is emulsified and much sweeter in taste. These sausages are usually made by local butchers and sold at the markets. This variant of Chinese Sausage is known as xiangchang (香腸) in Mandarin Chinese, literally meaning fragrant sausage. Although much loved by Taiwanese everywhere, this type of sausage is not commonly available outside the region. People also make their own sausages at home with industrial ingredients.

Singapore

Singapore has been coming up with many innovative Chinese sausages that are healthy. Examples that are created in Singapore are Chinese sausages with low fat, low sodium content and even a high fibre version.

Thailand

In Thai, the Chinese sausage is called "Koon Chiang" or "กุนเชียง". There is also Chinese sausage made with Snake-headed Fish (ปลาช่อน) meat.

Vietnam

In Vietnamese, the Chinese sausage is called "lạp xưởng" or "lạp xường".

Overseas

It is available in Asian supermarket overseas mostly in the packaged form.

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es:Salchicha china fr:Lap cheong