100 Worst Rated European Meat Products

Tlačenica is a type of pressed pork sausage that is made with pork parts, usually pig’s head meat, heart, tongue, skin, and cheeks. The meat is cooked, deboned, and chopped into pieces, and it is then seasoned and mixed with some of the cooking liquid before it’s stuffed into a clean pig’s stomach or large intestine. The spices used for seasoning the meat vary from one region to another, but they usually include salt, black pepper, sweet or hot paprika, and garlic. Once stuffed, the sausage is cooked in water over low heat, and it is then chilled and pressed. Also known by other names, including švargl, presvuršt, or prezvuršt, this meat product can be consumed after it’s been cooked and pressed, or it can undergo a process of smoking and drying in traditional smokehouses for up to two weeks. This delicacy is traditionally prepared in rural households after the pig slaughter, and it is typically enjoyed sliced as a cold appetizer. It is recommended to serve tlačenica as a cold cut with garlic and bread, or use it as an ingredient in a variety of traditional specialties.Expand

Liptovská saláma is a special type of salami created at the meat-producing plant in Dubnica nad Vahom in the Liptov region. The unique recipe for this salami dates back to the 1970s, and due to its distinctive flavor, the salami has gained great popularity among consumers. It is made from beef, pork, and spices such as black pepper, nutmeg, mace, ginger, and garlic. When the mixture is stuffed into casings, the salami is hung to dry and smoke before consumption. Liptovská saláma has a delicate, meaty flavor due to the fresh pork fat used in its preparation, and it exudes an intense aroma of nutmeg and ginger. It can be enjoyed on its own or served with other charcuterie products.Expand

Once considered to be an inferior meat product, today the Polish head cheese is regarded as a unique gourmet delicacy. Depending on the seasonings, shape, and main ingredients, which often include brawn, offal, or blood, traditional Polish cuisine boasts with more than ten different head cheese varieties. They are mostly prepared with pork, but some varieties exclusively use veal. Once popular in many cities bordering Germany, today they are prepared and enjoyed throughout the country. Regardless of the type, these texturally-exciting treats are usually enjoyed as cold cuts, commonly accompanied by bread and various meat products.Expand

Reindeer suovas is a traditional meat product. It is prepared by dry-salting reindeer meat, then smoking it over an open fire in a peaked hut for 8 hours. The meat can be consumed raw or cut into pieces, then grilled. These semi-wild reindeers are slaughtered every autumn and winter, but the salting, smoking, and curing are done throughout the year. Flavorful, yet delicate, suovas is often accompanied by pickled mushrooms and lingonberries or lingonberry jam. It is prepared by the Sámi indigenous people living in an area called Sápmi. When Sámi venture on long trips, they traditionally pack suovas and unleavened bread to eat on the trail.Expand

Originating from Lazio’s Castelli Romani, coppiette, meaning little couples, is a variety of traditional Italian salami consisting of long, thin strips of salt-cured and dehydrated meat flavored with fennel seeds and flakes of Italian hot chili pepper known as pepperoncino. In the past, this cured meat product was a staple of poor farmers who didn’t waste any part of their precious animals. Coppiette is traditionally dried in pairs - hence its name - and it used to be prepared with the sinewy hind limb muscle tissue of sheeps, goats, donkeys, and horses. Donkey coppiette remains a gourmet specialty even nowadays and is mainly prepared in the town of Genzano, while most of the coppiette produced these days comes from pork tenderloins. The drying period for the meat used to take about two months, but it is nowadays much shorter since the current drying process is typically done in special drying rooms. Distinguished by a reddish hue and a chewy texture, this meat specialty is generally served with other salumi varieties or as part of an aperitivo, and it is usually enjoyed with a glass of red wine, sparkling wine, or a crisp white prosecco.Expand

Entrepreneur Friedrich Heine made it big in 1896 when he introduced a national specialty known as Halberstädter Würstchen to the global market. His jarred, preserved sausages travelled well and were able to be distributed far and wide, and they quickly gained popularity far outside of Germany's borders. The company was expropriated by the East German government in 1948, and its name was changed to VEB Halberstadt Meats. The smoky flavor of these long and thin sausages in sheep's casings results from a patented, traditional method of smoking in a chimney over a beechwood fire, combined with long ripening times of 24 to 36 hours. Halberstadt's products have received many gold medal awards from the German Agricultural Society, the first of which was awarded in 1913. Chimney-smoked Halberstädter Würstchen are the only products from Halberstadt in Saxony-Anhalt that can bear the official local denomination Halberstädter.Expand

Traditionally prepared after the annual pig slaughter, disznósajt, translated to pork cheese, is a Hungarian head cheese that is usually made by combining various pork parts such as the head, tongue, heart, ears, and hooves of a pig. After cooking the pork parts with garlic, Hungarian paprika, salt, and black pepper, the meat mixture is typically stuffed into pig stomach in a similar manner to a sausage. The sausage-like head cheese is then cooked again before it is pressed and smoked. This Hungarian delicacy is typically eaten thinly sliced with fresh bread, mustard, and pickles, and it is usually washed down with a glass of traditional fröccs, made by mixing wine and soda water.Expand

Wiltshire ham is a traditional pork ham originating from Wiltshire. The ham is cured in a process called a Wiltshire cure, in which brine is pumped into the pork with a single or multi-needle injector before the ham is placed in brine for up to a week. Once taken out of the brine, the ham is usually left to mature for one more week. Wiltshire ham has a mild flavor, and it’s moist but never wet. It can be enjoyed hot or cold. This succulent ham tastes more salty and meaty than non-cured ham, while the bacteria from the brine impart a buttery and malty flavor with hints of yogurt to the ham. The method of wet-curing pork known as Wiltshire cure dates back to the 1770s.Expand

Banski starets (meaning an old man from Bansko) is a traditional dry-cured pork sausage originating from the Bulgarian town of Bansko. This meat specialty is typically made with a mixture of seasoned minced pork (fillet and tenderloin) that is stuffed into pork intestines, pressed, and then air-dried for at least 6 months before consumption. Typical seasonings include cumin, black pepper, and salt. With a rich salty flavor, this pork sausage is available in folk taverns and restaurants in Bansko, as well as in Bansko’s supermarkets. Banski starets is a traditional meze dish that is typically served as a dry appetizer, and it is usually paired with a glass of Bulgarian wine or rakia (local schnapps).Expand