The World Atlas
of Sausages

Morteau aux Lentilles

Saucisse de Morteau

Gratin Comtois with Morteau

Saucisse de Morteau

Lyoner Sausage Salad with Vinegar and Oil

Lyoner

Classic DC Half-Smoke with Chili

DC Half-Smoke

Half-Smoke & White Bean Ragout

DC Half-Smoke

Panissa Vercellese

Salam d'la Duja

Salam d'la Duja with Warm Polenta

Salam d'la Duja

Traditional Haggis Sausage

Haggis

A chalet-style hotel on a hillside above the Doubs valley in Morteau, running since 1920 in the same family for four generations. Cream-colored walls, a carved wooden roof with red checkered window trim, a balcony railed in white wrought iron, and pink geraniums cascading from the terrace down to the panoramic dining room. The kitchen cooks Haut-Doubs with a light hand: Saucisse de Morteau poached over green lentils, Cancoillotte-glazed pork, Comté soufflé, trout from the Doubs river. The dining room looks over the valley and fills up on Sundays with locals driving in from the surrounding villages. A pot of Morteau and a glass of Vin Jaune here is the benchmark against which every other version of this meal gets judged.

Known For: Saucisse de Morteau aux lentilles and Comté soufflé

The half-smoke's permanent address. Ben and Virginia Ali opened this counter on U Street NW in 1958, in the middle of Washington's Black cultural corridor, and never left. The restaurant survived the 1968 riots (one of the few businesses on U Street that stayed open during the curfew, feeding activists and National Guard troops), survived decades of neighborhood decline, survived Metro construction that tore up the block, and survived gentrification. The half-smoke here is a coarsely ground pork-and-beef link, grilled on the flattop, split, loaded into a steamed bun, and buried under the house chili, raw diced onion, and yellow mustard. Barack Obama ate here. Bill Cosby's photo used to hang on the wall. The Ali family still runs it.

Known For: The original DC half-smoke with house chili since 1958

A whisky bar and restaurant on Cockburn Street in Edinburgh's Old Town, five minutes downhill from Waverley Station and a few more from the Castle. The Arcade has been trading on Cockburn Street since the 1890s and was reopened as a dedicated Haggis & Whisky House, which is how it now lives up to its name. The menu runs through haggis every way the Scots have figured out how to eat it: the Robert Burns tower of haggis, neeps, and tatties with whisky cream sauce; a haggis nachos starter; haggis bonbons; vegetarian haggis for the non-offal crowd. The bar stocks over 100 single malts and runs Burns Night suppers in January that sell out weeks in advance.

Known For: Robert Burns haggis tower with whisky cream sauce

An award-winning whisky bar and Scottish restaurant on the Royal Mile, halfway between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. Whiski stocks over 300 single malts behind the bar, books live trad sessions every night of the week, and has been serving its haggis tower for so long it shows up on Edinburgh food tours by default. The tower comes the proper way: a column of haggis, neeps, and tatties with a whisky cream sauce poured at the table. Their kitchen also runs a vegetarian haggis version and a haggis stack starter if you want to try it without committing to a main course.

Known For: Haggis tower with whisky cream sauce, 300+ malts, live music nightly

The building on Via Cartoleria operated as a pharmacy for generations before Emanuele Addone converted it into a restaurant in 1997. Some of the original glass cabinets and shelving remain, now holding wine bottles instead of remedies. The menu rotates daily around what is local and in season. Salumi boards arrive with mortadella, cured meats from smaller Emilian producers, and bread from a nearby bakery. The room seats thirty at most, and reservations are worth making.

Mercato di Mezzo sits at the centre of the Quadrilatero, the medieval market grid that still functions as Bologna's food heart. The covered hall brings together vendors selling mortadella by the slice, cotechino in winter, fresh pasta, and local cheeses. A mezzanine bar overlooks the ground floor stalls. The mercato runs from morning until late evening, and the crowd shifts from market shoppers to aperitivo drinkers as the day goes on.

Bruno e Franco sits on Via Oberdan, away from the tourist circuit of the Quadrilatero. The neighbourhood deli format means no performance — just counter service, reasonable prices, and mortadella that gets sliced to order. The kind of place where regulars drop in on a Tuesday with a specific request and leave satisfied three minutes later. The coppa di testa is made by a local producer and changes with the season.

Salumeria Simoni has occupied its corner of Via Drapperie since 1951. Cured meats hang from the ceiling in dense rows, and the smell reaches you before the shop does. This is the Quadrilatero at its most photogenic — but the locals who come here aren't after atmosphere. They want mortadella sliced thin, a piece of good salame, and a quick conversation with whoever is behind the counter. The shop stocks regional producers from across Emilia-Romagna.