Buying sausages around the world can sometimes be a bit hit and miss as to whether you get the right quantity you need to feed the amount of people you are serving. Different shapes, lengths and thickness will alter how many you get per weight.
So how many sausages do you get in one pound weight? Getting 6 Sausages is about average per one pound weight (454g). However every sausage maker will link their sausages to their own specifications, and so you could get a few as 3, or as many as 9, depending on the way the butcher produces them.
Sausages Per lb Around The World
Every traditional butcher or meat market, in every country around the world, will most likely make their own recipe sausages. Along with the “secret recipe”, they will also have their own idea as to how many sausages will be served in 1lb weight.
Here we list a few countries and explain how those countries tend to sell their sausages* and how many you can expect to get in 1lb.
* For this purpose we are using fresh sausages that are made using hog casings and not chipolata style sausages that use sheep casings.
United Kingdom: 6 – 8 per lb
In the UK, many of the traditional butchers will sell their sausages as ‘Pork 8’s’. This means that the sausages are linked approximately 8 per lb (454g). Many of the mass produced sausages sold in packs at the grocery stores are also packed in 8’s.
Crafty Butchers Trick!
In recent times, butchers have started to link the sausage to weigh 6 or 7 per lb. They know that most customers will ask for ‘a pound of sausages’ and be expecting 8.
The butcher will then say something like “that’s just under the pound with 7 sausages, is that ok for you?”. Most often the customer will reply “oh put another one on please to make 8”, this obviously takes it over the lb in weight and gives the butcher a bigger sale.
When you are selling hundreds of sausages a day, every extra sausage soon adds up to a nice little extra profit for the butcher!
North America: 3 – 4 per lb
Independent butchers and meat markets within the USA and Canada tend to link their sausages larger at around 3 or 4 per lb.
Many of the fresh sausages sold such as Bratwurst, Hot Italian and Mild Italian are sold in single links and tend to be longer than those in the UK.
Germany: 3 – 4 per lb
Germany is renowned for its love of sausages “Wurst” and have them in all sizes. Commonly many of the sausages they produce are processed and smoked such as the Bockwurst and Frankfurters. However the Bratwurst also originated from here and is linked similar in size to North America with about 4 per lb.
France: 1 – 6 per lb
France also has a variety of famous sausages (saucisson), and many are made using less common parts of the animal. Boudin Noir for example uses the blood of the pig and Andoulliette which uses the intestines. These are usually sold about 4 per lb.
The French are also famous for their “Toulouse” sausage that is made using just pork, salt and pepper and traditionally sold as a once continuous ring per lb and cut to the length you require.
Australia: 4 – 5 per lb
Australia have a slang word for their sausages that they call ‘Snags’. These sausages are usually made using a mixture of pork and beef and sold about 4 or 5 per lb.
Poland: 2 per lb
sausages in Poland are known as ‘Kielbasa’ and can be sold either fresh or smoked. They are usually shaped in a ‘U’ shaped ring and weight about 8 – 12 ounces.
As you can see, suasges produced around the world come in different shapes and sizes and so it is difficult to say exactly how many come in a lb.
However if you are thinking of the typical “English Style Banger” then you can expect there to be 6 – 8 per lb.
To save any embarassment when shopping for sausages, it is probably safer to ask for the quantity / number of sausages you require rather than the weight!
If you fancy having a go at making your own sausages, we have an article written about the meat to fat ratio that will provide the best results here.
