There are four main categories of sausages: fresh, cooked and smoked, cooked, and semi-dry and dry. The sausages listed here are basically ground meat, seasoned and flavored, with added fat, stuffed into casings. Bulk sausage is flavored ground meat, usually pork, that is cooked like ground beef, or formed into patties. No matter which sausage you use, be sure to read the label for handling and cooking instructions. A sausage which is smoked or dried, for instance, isn't necessarily fully cooked and ready to eat without further cooking.

Many people are concerned about nitrates and nitrites, preservatives used in the making of smoked meat and sausages. These curing agents stop bacterial contamination and give the product a pink color and distinctive flavor. If you shop carefully, you can find products labeled nitrate and nitrite-free.

In the chart below, the ingredients listed for each sausage are generic. Specific brands of sausages may have slightly different ingredients; however, these ingredients are considered typical.

Oh, and Polish Sausage and Kielbasa are basically the same and are interchangeable; kielbasa is a polish word that means 'sausage'. One of the differences is that Kielbasa is sold in rings rather than separate links. Just use the brand you like!

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