Sai Ua
Also known as sai ua, Chiang Mai sausage, Northern Thai sausage
Northern Thailand, Thailand
Overview
Sai ua is the northern Thai herb sausage most strongly associated with Chiang Mai and the former Lanna cultural region. It is a fresh pork sausage packed with herbs, curry aromatics and chilli, then grilled or roasted.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
Sai means intestine or stuffed casing and ua refers to stuffing. Chiang Mai sausage is an English descriptive name, but sai ua is the correct Thai identity. It should not be reduced to a generic Thai sausage because its Lanna flavour system is distinctive.
Composition and characteristics
Pork and fat are mixed with lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaf, garlic, shallot, coriander root, chilli and turmeric or curry paste. The cut face is coarse and visibly green with herbs, and the aroma is citrusy, spicy and resinous.
Production and process
The herb paste is pounded before being distributed through minced pork. The mixture is stuffed into hog casing, formed into coils and grilled slowly so the herbs perfume the rendered fat without scorching.
History and regional forms
Sai ua belongs to northern Thai and Lanna food culture, where aromatic herb pastes and grilled meats are central. Chiang Mai markets helped make the coiled sausage a culinary emblem of the city and a popular food souvenir.
Use, storage and related products
It is sliced and eaten with sticky rice, fresh vegetables, chilli dips and pork crackling. It is distinct from northeastern sai krok Isan, which is fermented and sour.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, run it through one of our curing calculators so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →“Make this” opens the same cure as a measured recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt
- Cut
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt
- Salt (%)
- 1.2
- Curing salt
- None
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- Raw ≤4°C for 2 days; freeze longer
- Basis
- per 1,000 g pork shoulder / boston butt
- Style
- Fresh aromatic pork coil; grill before eating
Ingredients
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt100% · 1000 g
- Fine salt0.98% · 12 g
- Fresh galangal, grated1.5% · 15 g
- Cilantro, chopped0.8% · 8 g
- Fish sauce3% · 30 g
- Shallots, chopped15% · 150 g
- Lemongrass hearts, sliced1.6% · 20 g
- Makrut lime leaves, shredded0.5% · 5 g
- Garlic, minced2.4% · 30 g
- Dried Thai chiles, softened and chopped2% · 20 g
Method
- Pound or process chiles, galangal, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaves, shallots and fish sauce to a coarse paste.
- Chill pork, paste and equipment to 0–3°C.
- Grind pork through 6 mm.
- Mix pork, salt and paste until cohesive; fold in cilantro last.
- Stuff into 32 mm casing as a coil.
- Refrigerate 4–12 h at 2–4°C.
Safety. Sai ua is a raw fresh sausage unless specifically cooked by the producer. Herbs and turmeric do not preserve it.