Posted on 02/02/2003 7:07:30 AM PST by dighton
Should they be sucked, split or sliced? Despite the fact that a quarter of a million weisswurst are eaten each day in Munich alone, the subject of how to serve and savour Germany’s most popular sausage has become an issue of intense national debate.
The question has arisen thanks to a new book that has already sold out its first print run. In The Essential Weisswurst Etiquette Guide, its author, Werner Siegert, argues that the correct way to eat Bavarian weisswurst, or white sausage, is to suck it out of its skin, rounding off the messy process with a hearty smack of the lips.
Mr Siegert, a business consultant, admits that the proper sucking technique requires practice if it is not to “disgust” those who are watching. However, he says, the customs and ritual surrounding weisswurst are an essential part of Germany’s heritage and need to be preserved.
“The weisswurst is something special,” he says, “and eating it is a unique experience that binds us together. A lot of Germans have lost track of the etiquette involved.”
The success of Mr Siegert’s 180-page book is testimony to the importance of the sausage in German life. Every self-respecting town and region has a sausage named in its honour, and there are regular legal clashes between sausage-makers as they attempt to copyright their recipes and stop rivals producing doppel-bangers.
No sausage is more steeped in tradition and respect than the weisswurst, produced since the 14th century in the Bavarian heartland of sausage-making, and originally made by peasant farmers with just enough land to keep a single milking cow. The meat from unwanted calves was ground up with salt and water, then packed into a bowel lining. The white colour of the veal gave the sausage its name.
Since then, pork fat and herbs have been added to the weisswurst to enhance its flavour, and it is now served with pride at state receptions and official functions.
It has become the most popular of Germany’s hundreds of sausage varieties and a rich tradition has grown up around it - governing the time of day it should be eaten, which of 300 different types of bread it should be served with, and how it should be chewed and swallowed to extract the maximum flavour.
In Munich’s White Stag restaurant last week, lunchers engaged in a heated debate on the way to eat the sausage. Karl-Heinz Mueller, a pensioner, argued that the sucking technique known as “zuzeln” was the only correct procedure, smacking his lips to make his point.
Across the table, however, Walter Koenig, a businessman, was using his cutlery first to slice, then to peel his Weisswurst. “This is the only way to do it,” he insisted, reaching for a second helping.
Another technique involves slitting the Weisswurst open along one side before removing the skin in a single piece and either eating the sausage whole, with fingers, or cut into slices, with cutlery.
Mr Siegert, 72, who says his book is the culmination of 30 years’ study of the weisswurst, has other stipulations for the perfect sausage experience. “It is essential to have three weisswurst in each serving, not two or four, and they should not be eaten after midday. This dates from when people didn’t have a fridge and the sausages had to be consumed quickly before they went bad.
“Another issue is what to eat with your weisswurst: a strong mustard is as essential as a good red wine is to pasta. There also has to be pretzels and white beer.”
He added: “Germans believe that how you eat your sausage reveals something about your personality. Many a friendship has come to an abrupt end after a carefully prepared weisswurst meal was ruined because of an ill-informed request for ketchup, sauerkraut or a glass of lemonade.”
The first print run of the guide completely sold out within a week and the second print run is due on the shelves shortly, to be closely followed by foreign language versions including English and Japanese.
Looks like the French discuss bratwurst and weisswurst, too.
C'est une saucisse précuite très populaire à base de porc et de veau ou seulement au veau
Il en existe 4 plusieurs sortes
On another thread I compared this to Gore's losing his home state of Tennessee during the election. I won't translate the Wuerstchen joke...might not pass the profanity warnings here....but I will check out your homepage :)
I don't know about you guys, but I am a bit paranoid about the ingredients in the normal packaged hot dogs and sausage. The claim about ALL BEEF, or 100% PURE MEAT or NO BEEF BY-PRODUCTS! (What in the Hell does that mean???) These labels are sooooo ambiguous, and purposely misleading, as to cause me even more angst about serving it to my kids and grand kids. Not that I think they will get sick eating it, because I believe they are sufficiently careful to insure their product is safe. It's just I don't like the thought of what is possible in determining what constitutes all meat as a legal definition... YIKES! Making your own is a heck of a lot better tasting and a whole lot healthier, and so much more satisfying....
Because I feel that way, I have purposely kept an old family tradition alive, a "Making Sausage Day" with my kids and ex-wife.. LOL On this day we (for our 4 little families) prepare all of the various hot dog and sausages (Italian, German, Polish, Breakfast, and Hot Dogs) we intend to eat for the next 3 months or so. This was the way I was brought up when the old women folk would use this occation as a get together for families and ladyfriends of my 2 great Grandmothers', to have some fun, and believe me when making this stuff it can be great family fun...really...I mean it!! Once you buy the ingredients and get the equipment out, it really moves fast, and efficiently. There are a few recipes that we still make from the old days, just the way the cultures shared recipes in our old neighborhood in Chicago... somehow I never thought I would be the one that would be the keeper of the flame, but I do it with great pleasure...enjoy!
Homemade Frankfurters
(The best Hot Dogs you have ever eaten)
Ingredients:
Chill the mixture for half and hour then put the mixture thorough the fine blade of the grinder once more. Stuff the casings and twist them off into six-inch links. Parboil the links (without separating them) in gently simmering water for 20 minutes. Place the franks in a bowl of ice water and chill thoroughly. Remove, pat dry, and refrigerate. Because they are precooked, they can be refrigerated for up to a week or they can be frozen.
Preparing the Casing:
Snip off about four feet of casing. (Better too much than too little because any extra can be repacked in salt and used later.) Rinse the casing under cool running water to remove any salt clinging to it. Place it in a bowl of cool water and let it soak for about half an hour. While you're waiting for the casing to soak, you can begin preparing the meat as detailed below.
After soaking, rinse the casing under cool running water. Slip one end of the casing over the faucet nozzle. Hold the casing firmly on the nozzle, and then turn on the cold water, gently at first, and then more forcefully. This procedure will flush out any salt in the casing and pinpoint any breaks. Should you find a break, simply snip out a small section of the casing.
Place the casing in a bowl of water and add a splash of white vinegar. A tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water is sufficient. The vinegar softens the casing a bit more and makes it more transparent, which in turn makes your sausage more pleasing to the eye. Leave the casing in the water/vinegar solution until you are ready to use it. Rinse it well and drain before stuffing.
NOW, AS THEY SAY, STUFF IT!...LOL
This recipe uses 26 pounds of pork shoulder, which creates about 24 pounds of sausage. You can either cut the recipe in half, or use it as a basic guide.
Homemade Italian Sausage
This recipe uses 26 pounds of pork shoulder, which creates about 24 pounds of sausage. You can either cut the recipe in half, or use it as a basic guide.
Cut the meat off the bone and coarsely grind. I use a Kitchen Aid Table Mixer with meat grinding attachments with good results. Place the prepared meat in large bowls in the refrigerator until you have it all ground.
Next put all the meat out on a large clean surface such as a baking board or counter. Spread out across the surface, and begin to pour the spices across the top. Mix well using your hands until all the spices are incorporated into the meat. Take about 1 cup of the seasoned pork and place in a frying pan with about 1/4 cup of water. Cook over medium heat until the meat is nicely browned and then taste to determine if the seasonings are adequate. If necessary, add more seasonings of choice.
Take your casing, tie the end and begin to stuff it fairly firmly using your machine of choice. Continue until the entire casing is stuffed up until the last three or four It takes two people to do this adequately, one holding the casing in place and one adding meat into the shute. Hold the intestine firmly and try to add as little air as possible. Continue until the entire casing is stuffed up until the last three or four inches. Tie off firmly with string. Set aside and continue in this manner with the remaining casings and pork mixture until you are finished. We now go back and tie off each sausage section in 6-8" segments. I place meal sized portions into zip lock plastic bags and freeze.
To cook, I boil briefly for about 5 minutes to remove some of the excess fat, and then I barbeque or roast the sausages until golden brown. Great served with roasted potatoes and sautéed greens!
Cooks Tip: We like our sausages pretty spicy but I do realize not everyone does. We make one half of sausages lightly seasoned, and the other half much hotter. I then mark the packages as I place them in the freezer. That way if we have guests, I don't have to worry our food might be too spicy for their tastes.
Try grilling your sausages with bell peppers, and crusty Italian, or French bread.
Buon Appetito!
And yet this milk sausage, weisswurst, has a rather bland flavor as far as sausage goes. The smallest amount of herbs added are quickly detected. It's perfect for persons with palates that are in a word, er, delicate.
For those who associate sausages with stuffed peppers and garlic, this is not really something to send us scrambling for seconds.
This is not intended as a knock to weisswurst really, just a culinary critique, more of an observation actually, and a rather lame one at that...so don't take it to mean you shouldn't try some - if you haven't already.
Much appreciated. Thanks.
Variety is great!! We eat (Italian) sausage-pepper-and-onion heroes, too.
Aruanan did it justice in #54.
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