Weißwurst: the traditional white sausage
A Weißwurst is a traditional white sausage from Bavaria and is made using minced pork and veal. They are mostly flavoured with lemon, onion, parsley, cardamom and ginger. You will find some variations of it as well. Pork casings are stuffed with the mixture and then separated into individual sausages that measure about ten to twelve centimeters in length and almost two centimeters in thickness.
The sausage is perishable therefore the sausage is traditionally manufactured early in the morning and eaten as a snack in between breakfast and lunch. These Weisswürste are usually served till midday because preservatives are not used to make it. The meat is not smoked due to which the sausage is made fresh every day. This may also be the reason why they are also known as morning sausages. Way before the refrigeration technology during the summertime these sausages were seen to be going bad before nightfall. Even now you will find that most of the Bavarians eat this sausage before noon.
These sausages are heated in water well before boiling for almost ten minutes. It will slowly turn them into grayish white due to the no colour-preserving nitrate that is used in the Weisswürste preparation.
The Weisswürste is served on the table in a big bowl together with hot water which is used at the time of preparation, and then they are eaten without their skins. The traditional way of eating the Weisswürste is called zuzeIn which stands for sucking in Bavarian. In this each end of the sausage is cut or even bitten open and then the meat is sucked out from the skin. Besides this, the more common and discreet ways of consuming the sausage are by cutting the sausage lengthwise and then rolling the meat out from the skin using a fork or simply ripping the sausage apart and then consuming the filling.
The Weisswürste is commonly served with sweet mustard which is a Bavarian specialty and also Brazen, which is a pretzel and weissbier.
History
A young butcher called Sepp Moser was working in a restaurant ZumEwigen Licht which was next to his butchery. In the year 1857, on Sunday, which was before Lent, Moser was making sausages for the guests. At this time, the food ran out, and he was asked to make more. Since all the thicker sausage casings were used up, he was forced to make use of the thinner sausage casings and filled them up as usual. But this time instead of grilling the sausages he decided to boil them for about 10 minutes. He did this because he was scared that the thin casings wouldn’t hold for long. When the guests were served the sausage, their skeptical opinions changed quickly to praises, and they enjoyed Munich’s first ever Weißwurst!
Weisswürste Recipe
Weisswurst is a very traditional Bavarian sausage which is made from finely minced pork bacon and veal. They are usually flavored with parsley, mace, ginger, mace, and cardamom, and there are several variations of it. This mixture is then, as said above, filled into fresh and clean pork casings which are separated into individual sausages. Due to the perishable nature, they are produced in the morning and consumed by lunch time.
We will need the following ingredients to make the sausage:
- 5 lbs. veal
- One tsp. mace
- 1 oz. powdered dextrose
- One tsp. ground celery seeds
- 5 lbs. lean pork butts
- 3 1/2 ozs. Salt
- One tsp. dry parsley
- 3 1/2 ozs. soy protein concentrate
- One tsp. American Spice onion powder one qt. ice water
- 1 Tbsp. ground white pepper
- 1 oz. ground mustard seed
- 3 1/2 ozs. non-fat dry milk
Follow the given procedure to make the sausages:
- Start by grinding the mixture through a ¼” or 3/8” grinder plate.
- Now add all the ingredients excluding the water and then mix until they are evenly distributed.
- After this place the meat in the food processor and keep adding the water as you go along.
- It is done to emulsify the meat.
- After this stuff it into a 32-35 mm hog casing and make them into 5” to 6” links.
- At this time place it into 160oF water and cook until an internal temperature of 150oF is reached.
- Now sprinkle the sausages with cool water till the temperature internally reduces to about 75o
- At this point, you need to place it in a cooler overnight before using it.
- You will have to grill or fry these sausages until they are browned.
- In order to get a crunchy coating which is delicate, you can cover the sausages with milk for about 10 minutes. After this coat the sausages with flour.
- Now brown the sausages in a skillet to which you have added the vegetable oil.
- The sausages are best served with German bread or a crusty roll along with spicy mustard or horseradish sauce.
5 Simple Rules to Eating Weißwurst
Here are few simple rules you must follow to enjoy a Weißwurst.
Rule #1: cook it in hot water
Weißwurstis are actually never cooked on a grill like other kinds of sausages found in Germany. This sausage is made of thin sausage skin that may burst when put on a hot grill. Instead, the sausage is poached slowly in a hot and boiling water for about 10 minutes. Boiling water is never used as it would be too hot for the sausage skin to bear.
Rule #2: Consume it before noon
The Weißwurst is traditionally known to be eaten before lunch time. It is because no preservatives are used in preparing the sausage, and therefore they need to be consumed as soon as possible. It is recommended to consume it the morning it is prepared.
Rule #3: Pretzel and sweet mustard are a MUST
Usually, a pair of Weißwurst should be eaten with a pretzel along with some sweet mustard. Not just any sweet mustard it has to be the HändlmaierSüßersenf.
Rule #4: Skin it before you eat it
Unlike the many sausages found in Germany which are all eaten while, the Weißwurst is carefully taken out of its skin before they are consumed.
Few of the techniques are:
- You need to suck out the contents from one end of the sausage. This is a technique called zuzeln.
- Or you can even make an incision lengthwise and then go ahead and remove the skin using your knife and fork carefully.
- Otherwise, slit one end of the sausage and use the skin flap that is caught between the knife and your thumb, to peel its skin in one solid stroke.
Rule #5: Enjoy it with Weizenbier, a wheat beer
This is however not a strict rule as not everyone would like Weizenbier. But if you look at it traditionally the Weizenbier and Weißwurst go hand-in-hand. The Weizenbier is not so fancy like wine, but unlike pils which can be drunk straight from the bottle, the Weizenbier needs to be served in a Weizenbierglas.
So those are the five simple rules which will let you enjoy a delicious Weißwurst. Make sure you follow them when in the presence of a Bavarian.
You can also include this recipe the next time you throw a party and let your guests relish the Weißwurst.