Csabai in Melbourne

[misi]

I wanted to buy some csabai sausage.

I bought it from the local butcher.
Cooked it for lunch, ate half of it then throw out the rest.
Tested terrible, couldn't eat dinner on that day.

Searched the Net, found Gruner, a Hungarian butcher in St. Kilda.
Visited them and bought 3 pieces for $30/Kg.
Savoy cabbage with csabai in it...Mmmm...
Wrong.
Horribly salty.
Maybe tomorrow it will be better if I put more potato in the cabbage?
No, it was just as salty as earlier.

Visited the Victoria Market, La Deli advertised it for $40/Kg
Bought one piece from them for $15.
They are not selling it by the weight because it's losing weight as drying.
Put on the scale at home: 250grams
Hmmm...250 * 4= 1000, which means they are selling it for $60/Kg...
At least it was eatable.

Today I saw Continental sausage at the Coles supermarket, it looks similar to the csabai.
$3 per piece.
Bought it, on the scale it was 100 grams.
So it's $30/Kg...
Cooked half of it with eggs, tasted reasonably good.
Tomorrow I'll go again to Coles!

 

[foxidrive]

I bought some at a deli at The Glen and which was the best I've had so far, and I've tried some at other delis which was all crap.

kristys deli has csabai in mild and hot and I asked for a soft mild one to cater for Mum's poor teeth and Bro's dislike of hard food - and it is a winner. I had it a few times but haven't been out that way for a while.

I was sent there by my Hungarian friend from my school days - and what was also so good about kristys deli csabai is that the skin comes away easily and totally - it just peels off when it's to be eaten cold in a sandwich.


I don't recall the cost misi but you could ring them to ask.
If you want to go there it's in the food court area and almost directly opposite the entrance at the southern end of The Glen building. Parking is just around the corner in the large carpark.

 

[misi]

kristys deli has csabai in mild and hot and I asked for a soft mild one to cater for Mum's poor teeth and Bro's dislike of hard food - and it is a winner. I had it a few times but haven't been out that way for a while.

Thanks, I'll see them as soon as I visit that area.

I've tried some at other delis which was all crap.

I'll stay away from the St. Kilda shop:

The above pic is from an article written in 05/10/2012.
The small goods look delicious but the taste of the salt is still in my mouth.

 

[foxidrive]

but the taste of the salt is still in my mouth.

I'm just commenting here on the variability of fresh foods.

I've bought fresh foods and found that what was beautiful on one occasion is very poor quality on another occasion.

It's my impression that stores will make a batch of some product and get it wrong when the apprentice puts in two tablespoons of salt instead of 2 teaspoons so it tastes quite vile and salty, but they will still sell the product instead of tossing it in the bin.

If I were to go back in two months and buy the same product from the same place it can be totally different.

This happens in my experience with many fresh foods sold in stores like pies, lasagna, potato salad etc. It can be delicious and tender on one occasion and be quite substandard on another occasion.

 

[misi]

It's my impression that stores will make a batch of some product and get it wrong when the apprentice puts in two tablespoons of salt instead of 2 teaspoons so it tastes quite vile and salty,

In the above case it could have been 4 tablespoons instead of 2 teaspoons...
One piece of sausage poisoned about 2L of cabbage...
Thinned with water, more potato in it and still poisonous...

I remember salty goods from the good old days.
They didn't use preservatives that time only salt and smoke.
When the sausage dried, sometimes could see the white salt on the skin of the sausage.
But it was still eatable.

 

[foxidrive]

In the above case it could have been 4 tablespoons instead of 2 teaspoons...

One piece of sausage poisoned about 2L of cabbage...

That's about all one can do with cabbage!

 

[foxidrive]

When the sausage dried, sometimes could see the white salt on the skin of the sausage.
But it was still eatable.

Yum!

 

[misi]

Bought one piece of soft mild csabai from the local Safeway for $28/Kg.
Next week I'll try it with savoy cabbage.

 

[Guess]

More ruined Cabbage ..

 

[misi]

More ruined Cabbage ..

Dunno yet...

 

[foxidrive]

More ruined Cabbage ..

...but cabbage is ruined before it leaves the ground.

Rabbits might disagree, but then I know of some rabbits that prefer red meat..

 

[misi]

Rabbits might disagree, but then I know of some rabbits that prefer read meat..

My salty sausage would kill that killer rabbit in seconds...

 

[aye-aye-Chris]

More ruined Cabbage ..

Doesn't it grow that way?

 

[misi]

More ruined Cabbage ..

It couldn't ruin my cabbage...because I made half of it with potato yesterday.
Nice.
Made a quarter of it today with eggs, I won't do it anymore.
One quarter left, can keep it only for 4 days.
Maybe:

 

[foxidrive]

I had a delivery of csabai from kristys deli on Friday. My shooldays friend dropped over an passed there on the way.

It couldn't ruin my cabbage...because I made half of it with potato yesterday.
Nice.
Made a quarter of it today with eggs

Lovely. Bacon pieces with fried potato?

I won't do it anymore.

Why? Did your belt slip another notch?

I find that happens a fair bit - belts shrink a lot more than they used to in the old days. Lousy quality.

 

[misi]

Why?

With the potato it was fine but with only eggs...the quality is not there.

I had a delivery of csabai from kristys deli on Friday.

I'll visit that place as soon as I'll go to that area.
Until then the Coles "Continental" should do the trick.

Still searching for places a little closer. One of them is the Preston Market.

 

[foxidrive]

Still searching for places a little closer.

I don't blame you, It's a long hike for a bit of sausage.

One of them is the Preston Market.

I went there once as very young bloke. Public transport was my mode of transport at the time coz the Police made a mistake and took my license off me and it was a very long trip on 2 or 3 trams on a Sunday timetable - when they only arrived once every hour or so.

There was a gal visiting from a western state that I was there to woo, and we wandered around the stalls of clothes, and arty stuff, and food. We didn't marry, and that's probably for the best. I would have become a South Australian and never lived down the shame.


But back to csabai - back when I was looking around the local places I found that several Delicatessens stores had it. I didn't find a good one but maybe a local deli to you would have a nice one. Misi can go on a pubcrawl delicrawl...

 

[misi]

coz the Police made a mistake and took my license off me

Don't go too close to them when they are over the .05 limit!

 

[foxidrive]

Don't go too close to them when they are over the .05 limit!

I agree! They can get mighty cheesed off when they are pissed.

 

[TeeEm]

This is better than csabai for a gourmet like you foxi.

More pics.