In winter, Finnish kitchens cook soup, which is a traditional everyday food for us, but a delicacy unknown in other countries.
When the frosts start to hit, the demand for one traditional food ingredient starts to heat up.
On cold winter days, sister sausage soup is cooked in many home kitchens. At the bowl of soup, the question of whose sister’s soup is being tasted can arise.
Siskonmakkara is not etymologically related to sister in any way, but the roots of the word come from the French word saucisse. From there, the word traveled to Sweden, where it became a slang term. In Finland, this raw sausage became a sister sausage.
– We have received contacts about the name. Some may have been upset by the name of the sausage if their name is Sisko. The kids have been asking why it’s not brother’s sausage! says product manager, vice president Sallamari Lempinen From Wursti Oy.
The family company Wursti from Järvenpää is the market leader in sister sausages in Finland.
Sister sausage soup can be perfectly varied with, for example, cream cheese. Roni Lehti
The extrusion makes me think
Winter is the absolute season for sister sausage soup, even though it is made year-round, judging by trends.
– In the summer, some people also make a sister sausage soup similar to a summer soup, with milk, summer root vegetables and vegetables, says Lempinen.
Last December, a recipe for sister sausage star tarts was published on Wurst’s social media.
– We rarely get negative feedback, but this cake did. Some were indignant and thought that you shouldn’t touch the Christmas cake!
Since there have been customer inquiries about how to properly press the sausage paste from the raw sausage into the soup, this work step has been shown on Wurst’s website.
– The extrusion phase has made some customers suspicious. The fact that you have to get your hands dirty might have been a surprise. On the other hand, many people have said that children like squeezing the pulp, Lempinen says.
Sallamari Lempinen is a third-generation Wurst resident. The company turns 40 this year. WURSTI OY
A Finnish specialty
According to Lempinen, Siskonmakkarakeitto is a very Finnish thing. This kind of food is hardly made anywhere else. The closest are some dishes from Italian and Asian cuisine that use raw sausage.
– Finland is indeed special here. I don’t think sister sausage is sold even in Sweden. We have been asked how it could be exported to Sweden.
Wurst has also developed new sister sausage recipes, including a sister sausage burger and a sauce that uses a lot of curry.
Siskonmakkara has surprisingly exciting spices. The list of ingredients includes cloves, nutmeg and chili. According to Lempinen, the amounts of these are small.
– They support each other and enhance other flavors so that the whole is good.
The basic sister sausage soup may not look charming, but its taste and aroma are warming. Eeva Paljakka
Fluffy and soft
Lempinen describes the essence of the sister sausage cooked in the soup with the words fluffy and soft.
– I cannot reveal the recipe, he regrets.
However, he reveals that one important factor in fluffiness and juiciness is the fat content of the sister sausage, which is about 19 percent.
– In the soup, the fat is also released into the broth, which becomes seasoned at the same time.
The traditional sister sausage is made from pork, but at the request of consumers, Wurst also launched a chicken version on the market a couple of years ago.