During the old ages, Montenegrins rarely used meat in their cuisine; perhaps once a week or for holidays and celebrations - and fresh meat even less than that. To preserve food, Montenegrins used different smoking and drying techniques for meat and fish.
Njeguši sausage is very popular in Montenegro, and it is prepared either on the barbeque or cooked slowly with cabbage or raštan (collard greens). Raštan with njeguši sausages is traditionally served as the orthodox Christmas main meal.
Ingredients: 7 to 7.5 kg of pork, 2.5 to 3 kg of hard bacon, 200 g of salt, 30 g of pepper, 30 to 40 g of garlic, 100 g of peppers.
Njeguši sausage of unique taste is made from quality pork and hard bacon. Meat and bacon are cut into cubes 1x1 cm or grind on a shaft of 10 mm, mixed with spices and stuffed in a thin bowl. After aging it for 24 hours, at a temperature of 4 to 7°C, the sausage is placed into the smokestack and smoked 5 to 6 days, 2 to 3 hours per day, on a cold smoke of beech or some hardwood. The sausage should be dried and matured in a dim, cool, dark and dry space.
