Kebabcheta - Bulgarian sausages

Theophan

There are people in my church (Orthodox) whose origin is from all over the world, including Romania, Serbia, Greece, Russia, and the Philippines, among other places (and also people like me who don't really identify with any place other than the US as where I come from).  So I've been exposed to many different foods I don't think I'd even have heard of otherwise.  I cooked some Bulgarian sausages today, apparently called "Kebabcheta" (plural; singular is "Kebabche") that I found in a little store that tends to have odd things from all over the world.  These are a little bit like brats, but without any skin, and they're made with pork and beef, and I can't say they taste exactly like anything else I've had.  I've had some similar sausages that came from Bosnia, I think, and Serbia.  My favorite of this type of sausage is a recipe I got from my former church for Serbian sausages called "cevapi" (pronounced "Cheh-VAH-pee"), also called "cevapcici" ("Cheh-VAHP-chee-chee"), and they had beef, pork and lamb, and the lamb gave it a flavor I thought was wonderful.  They (and these Bulgarian ones) also have baking soda in them -- not sure what that does.  These came frozen.  The orange stuff on the plate in the picture on the package is "ajvar" (pronounced "AY-var"), a creamy mixture of eggplant and red peppers and often some other seasonings that is popular in the Balkans that I've gotten to really like.  I had some, so I put it in the picture, and had it with my lunch.







When I got them inside they looked a LOT blacker than they had in the direct sun outside.  I guess I overdid them, but they were still very juicy and tasty.





I've tried a bunch of similar frozen sausages from the Balkans wishing I could find one that is as good as the home-made cevapi I've made a few times, because I find making homemade sausage a real pain, for some reason.  But even though these were really good, the cevapi with beef, pork and lamb still are my favorites.  Guess I'll have to bite the bullet one of these days and make some again.  

Theo

Legume

Thise look great.

Hawg Fan

I'm all about variety and trying new foods.  The sausage and pepper spread sound interesting.

Theophan

Hawg Fan said:

I'm all about variety and trying new foods.  The sausage and pepper spread sound interesting.

The spread doesn't have any sausage in it -- it's mostly eggplant and sweet red peppers.  Some ajvars are a little hot, but I've never had one that was terribly hot.  I found it good but a little odd when I first had it a few years ago, but as I've eaten it more, I've come to really love it.  It's too bad, because eggplant isn't good for me.

Theo