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Loukanika krasata: the village sausage

“Krasata” means cooked in wine — and that is exactly where the flavour comes from

Loukanika are the village sausage of Cyprus — coarse-cut pork, cured and dried, then smoked slowly over vine cuttings until they darken and firm up. What sets them apart from an ordinary sausage is in the name: krasata means cooked with wine, and it is the wine — dry, red, worked in at the mincing stage — that gives loukanika their sharp, faintly tangy character.

Hung to cure after the mince is packed — the wine and the smoke do the rest.

A winter tradition

Loukanika were traditionally made once a year, after the winter pig slaughter, as a way of turning one animal into food that would last through the months that followed. The mince was seasoned with wine, coriander seed and black pepper, packed into casings, then hung to cure in a cool room or smoked slowly over a village fire.

How they are eaten today

The curing and smoking still happen much as they always did, but loukanika no longer wait for winter — they turn up wherever the charcoal is lit. Grilled whole alongside sheftalia and halloumi at a souvla afternoon, or set down as one more plate in a long meze table, they are rarely the main event but always missed if they are not there.

Grilled whole until the skin blisters, then sliced and eaten with bread.

Try them sliced with bread and a glass of the same dry red wine that went into them — the pairing is not a coincidence.

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