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Reinsdyrpølse
Sápmi · The North

Reinsdyrpølse

Cured, lightly smoked reindeer sausage — dense, wild and faintly sweet — sliced for the mountain table.

2 week cureAdvanced
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Cultural Context & History

Every part of the reindeer is honoured in the north, and the sausage is where trimmings meet spice. Cured and gently smoked, reinsdyrpølse is the pocketable provision of herders and skiers.

Ingredients

  • 600 g reindeer meat, well chilled202 kcal · 17.5 g protein · 11 g fat · 7.2 g carbs per 100 g
  • 200 g pork fat267 kcal · 20.9 g protein · 20.3 g fat · 0.2 g carbs per 100 g
  • 200 g beef or mutton192 kcal · 14.1 g protein · 11.6 g fat · 7.4 g carbs per 100 g
  • 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper0 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 1330 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 tsp juniper berries, crushed62 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 12.5 g carbs per 100 g
  • Hog casings, rinsed0 kcal · 100 g protein · 0 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

  • Meat grinder with fine plateCuts the lean reindeer and fat to an even, bindable grind.
  • Sausage stuffing hornFills the casings evenly without trapping air.
  • Instant-read thermometerHolds the poach at 80°C so the fat stays put.

Product suggestions are editorial references only; no purchase or affiliate links are currently configured.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Grind the well-chilled reindeer, pork fat and mutton through the fine plate of a meat grinder.

  2. 2

    Work in the salt, pepper and crushed juniper, then knead in about 100 ml ice-cold water until the mixture turns sticky and emulsified.

  3. 3

    Stuff into the rinsed hog casings and twist off into even sausages.

  4. 4

    Poach in water held at 80°C for 15–20 minutes, never letting it boil, or the fat will render straight out.

  5. 5

    Finish in butter or over the grill until the casings turn crisp and golden.

Chef's Tip

Keep the meat, fat and water near-frozen throughout — a warm mix smears the fat and the sausages cook up dry and crumbly rather than juicy.

Chef's Tip

Poach a day ahead and chill; a quick fry to order gives crisp casings without overcooking the lean reindeer.

How this page was made

Written by
The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked
— “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context
Sápmi — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources
No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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