Kaszanka is a traditional blood sausage

Blood sausage

Black pudding, blood pudding or blood sausage is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. The dish exists in various cultures from Asia to Europe...

 in Polish cuisine

Polish cuisine

Polish cuisine is a style of cooking and food preparation originating from Poland. It has evolved over the centuries due to historical circumstances. Polish national cuisine shares some similarities with other Central European and Eastern European traditions as well as French and Italian...

. It is made of a mixture of pig's blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

, pig offal

Offal

Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than...

 (commonly liver, lungs, skin, and fat), and buckwheat (sometimes barley

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

 or rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

) kasza

Kasha

Kasha is a cereal commonly eaten in Eastern Europe. In English, kasha generally refers to buckwheat groats, but in Slavic countries, kasha refers to porridge in general and can be made from any cereal, especially buckwheat, wheat, barley, oats, millet, and rye...

 stuffed in a pig intestine. It is usually flavored with onion, black pepper, and marjoram

Marjoram

Marjoram is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours...

.

Kaszanka may be eaten cold, but traditionally it is either grilled or fried with some onions and then served with potato and sauerkraut

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...

.

Regional variations

• Grützwurst (Germany and sometimes Silesia)
• Knipp
  Knipp
  Knipp is a type of sausage made by mixing meat with grains related to Pinkel which comes from the Bremen and Lower Saxony regions of Germany....
  
  (Lower Saxony, Germany)
• Krupniok (More of a slight name difference than variation, Silesia)
• Pinkel
  Pinkel
  Pinkel is a smoked Kaszanka , a type of sausage which is eaten with kale in Northwest Germany, especially in the region around Oldenburg, Bremen and Osnabrück as well as in East Frisia and Friesland...
  
  (Northwest Germany)
• Stippgrütze
  Stippgrütze
  Stippgrütze, also called Wurstebrei, is a German dish from Westphalia which is similar to Grützwurst or Knipp. It consists of barley groats cooked in sausage juices , which are enriched with pieces of meat, offal, such as heart, kidney or liver and seasoned with spices and salt. More rarely,...
  
  (Westphalia, Germany)
• Westfälische Rinderwurst
  Westfälische Rinderwurst
  Westfälische Rinderwurst is a type of German sausage known as a Grützwurst and is made from beef, beef dripping, vegetables, pearl barley or groats and butter...
  
  (Westphalia, Germany)
• Maischel (Carinthia
  Carinthia (state)
  Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
  
  , Austria): Grützwurst without blood and not cased in intestine, but worked into balls in caul fat
  Caul fat
  Caul fat is the thin membrane which surrounds the stomach internal organs of some animals, such as hogs, cows, sheep, and pigs, also known as the greater omentum. It is often used as a natural sausage casing and to encase fegatelli , faggots , or pâté . Caul fat is also known as Lace...
  
  . The name comes from the Slovenian majželj in turn derived from the Bavarian Maisen ("slices").
• Jelito (Moravia, Czech Republic)

External links

• A photograph of kaszanka
• A recipe for kiszka on YumYum.com
• Kaszanka or kiszka vendors in the United States: Chicopee Provision Co. (Chicopee, MA), Polana – A Polish Experience (Chicago, IL)
• Krupniok in Silesian cuisine