Hurka and kolbász represent everything fantastic about Hungarian sausages. Kolbász is the perhaps the backbone of Hungarian sausage culture. It’s generally made with pork shoulder and other pork trim, and a healthy amount of back fat. All with a good dose of paprika to give it a mild sweet and spicy flavour. But it is rare that Hungarians buy kolbász on its own. Hungarian butchers always sell hurka and kolbász together.
There are two types of hurka. Májas hurka contains pork liver and rice, and véres hurka, which is a blood sausage. Before moving to Hungary, the only blood sausage I had tried was slices of the British black pudding in a traditional full English breakfast. Black pudding is popularly (but unfairly) labelled as pretty unhealthy. So I felt pretty extravagant the first time I ate a whole hurka black sausage in one go. But it really is a treat.
It is a credit to Hungarian cuisine that the main supermarkets and the processed food industry has not mass produced these sausages. The size and taste of both hurka and kolbász vary from butcher to butcher, and you can get some outstanding sausages from very small producers who each have their loyal local followers at the various markets that pop up in most towns.
Hungarians don’t always agree on how best to cook hurka and kolbász. Some people prefer to pan fry them. Others swear that baking them is the best method. Personally I prefer to bake them, as this is much more hands off and makes them far less likely to split. But one thing they all agree on is that you should serve hurka and kolbász with some pickled gherkins and some fresh crusty bread.
It is very difficult to source kolbász and hurka outside of Hungary. They don’t travel well, and are not mass produced. And when Hungarians living outside Hungary make them, they make them for themselves. These sausages are definitely on my list of things to learn how to make from scratch!
