Weißwürste

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Weißwürste are Bavarian veal and pork sausages.

They are about 50% veal, 25% water, 30% pork fat, and 10% "Häutelwerk" (meat from the calf's head, connective tissue from the calf, and pork rind.)

The meat is chopped finely, then shaved ice added. The fat is chopped and mixed in, then the minced Häutelwerk, and mild seasonings such as salt, lemon, parsley and pepper.

The mixture is packed into casings made of pig intestines. Sometimes the ends are sealed with metal clips. The sausages are then cooked 25 minutes at 158 F / 70°C, then chilled and sold on. Sometimes they are sold in delis in brine. Outside of butcher shops in Bavaria, you can buy them canned or vacuum packed. Occasionally, they are sold raw to buyers who intend to cook them straight away.

The sausages are about 4 3/4 inches (12 cm) long and 1 1/4 inches (30 cm) wide. They have a fine, soft, loose texture inside, and are a very pale colour inside and out. The taste is mild, so mild that some people say they are all about the mustard that is customary to put them on.

Even though they have had a preliminary cooking, they still need to be cooked more fully.

They are meant for cooking by simmering them in salted water for 5 to 7 minutes. Sometimes people say boil, but they actually mean simmer -- you can't boil them or the skin will burst open.

They are served hot, usually in pairs in a bowl of hot water (you don't eat or drink the water they are served in,) In restaurants, they are always accompanied with sweet mustard and pretzels.

You don't eat the skin. There are two ways to accomplish this. With a knife, you split the sausage along its length. Then, you hold down the sausage with your fork, and use the knife to peel the skin off. Pros, though, cut off both ends of the sausage, and hold the sausage and suck the meat out. You suck out one side first, then you turn it around and suck out the rest through the other end. This technique is called "Zuzeln."

Some North Americans like frying them up in butter and onion. Those in the know are shocked at the thought of anyone frying them.

These sausages are generally eaten in the morning in Bavaria, and are generally not served after noon hour. During Oktoberfest, restaurateurs start serving the sausages along with beer at 10 in the morning.

They are mostly eaten in southern Germany. Some people refer to a "Weißwurstäquator" ("white sausage equator") -- an imaginary line roughly following the course of the Danube River that separates off the north of Germany where Weißwürste is not a common sausage. When it is served in other parts of Germany, though, it is eaten at any time of day.

Equivalents for Weißwürste

4 Weißwürste = 1 pound / 450g

History Notes for Weißwürste

Weißwürste was reputedly invented by a man named Joseph Sepp Moser on 22 February 1857 in Munich at a restaurant / inn called "Zum Ewige Licht" on the Marienplatz. He both worked at the restaurant, and ran a butcher shop next door. He made a batch of sausages with thin skin, as he had reputedly run out of thicker sausage skin. Owing to the thin skins, he decided to boil the sausages for the customers in the restaurant, because he thought they would burst if fried.

Language Notes about Weißwürste

"Weiß" (pronounced "vice") means white, "würst" means sausage, "würste" means sausages.
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Also called:
Weißwürste (German)