Houjie Sausage

Houjie Sausage

　　　Houjie sausage has a long history, enduring from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the present day.

　　　　The sausage is distinctive in color, shape, and taste, featuring an oval shape and a purplish-brown hue, slightly larger than a pigeon’s egg. It boasts a fragrant and delicious flavor.

　　　　In addition to the common all-meat variety, Houjie sausage also comes in unique types such as white lard sausage, duck liver sausage, and pork liver sausage.

　　　　Houjie sausage can be categorized into several types, including flower-patterned sausage, duck liver sausage, and pork liver sausage. The production of Houjie sausage adheres to strict ingredient selection and meticulous craftsmanship, resulting in a product that is fresh, aromatic, and crisp. Modern Houjie sausage combines traditional production principles with contemporary technology, ensuring a dust-free, smoke-free, and sterile environment throughout the entire manufacturing process—from ingredient selection, mixing, stuffing, pricking, tying, hanging, drying to sterilization. The drying process uses automatically temperature-controlled infrared rays to achieve high-quality standardized production. Major production areas include Houjie Town and local companies such as the Municipal Food Import and Export Company and the Municipal Food Company.

　　　　There is also a legend behind Houjie sausage. It is said that during the late Southern Song Dynasty, amid constant warfare, people fled to the mountains to escape danger. At that time, a villager surnamed Wang in Houjie mixed rice with minced meat, stuffed it into casings, tied the mixture into small sections with string, and dried them in the sun. These portable sausages served as both food and provisions during their escape. They could be steamed, boiled, or roasted, functioning as either a dish or a meal—and were extremely tasty. Over time, through continuous improvements, they evolved into the world-renowned Houjie sausage we know today. In Southeast Asia and Hong Kong and Macau regions, Houjie sausage from Dongguan is especially famous.

　　　　Another notable feature is that the sausage links are very short, almost the size of a large red date, hence it is also called “date sausage.” Perhaps the villager surnamed Wang originally made them this small to save on ingredients and for convenience. But they are indeed very easy to eat. For instance, when you cut a few pieces and steam them over rice, the fragrance remains sealed within the casing without dissipating. When you take a bite, the rich aroma bursts in your mouth.

　　　　Houjie sausage is not only popular in Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia but is also exported to Europe and America, with an annual export volume of tens of thousands of tons.