Tag Archives: German sausage

German Sausage: Mettwurst, The Controversial

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I am surprised that wars have not been fought over food.  Controversies abound.  People have strong feelings and express them vociferously.

Let me get one thing clear straightaway. I loved the soft, spreadable version of Mettwurst and it will become a regular on appetizer plates and holiday buffets in my house.

Mettwurst plate

Mettwurst on crackers served with pickles and potato salad.

When I picked up a hunk of Mettwurst German sausage  at my neighborhood Dickman’s Meat and Deli, I wanted to continue my education on the many varieties of German sausage.

Mettwurst

The Mettwurst sausage that I bought.

TWO KINDS OF METTWURST

Then I turned to the website for the American sausage company, Steiglmeier, and ran into a brawl. Viewers of the site differed sharply in their ratings of the company’s Mettwurst.

It seems that there are many varieties of Mettwurst.  But unlike other sausages simply seasoned differently depending on what region they come from, Mettwurst comes in two distinct forms as well as in different flavors.  The one from northern Germany comes in a solid smoked link with a strong flavor that you must cook like bratwurst by boiling or grilling.

The  one I bought originated in southern Germany– a soft, spreadable, mild smoked sausage. The spreadable Mettwurst requires no further cooking. (That makes sense because Steiglmeier emphasizes Bavarian meats). Apparently the longer you smoke the chopped pork and beef the harder it gets.

THE CONTROVERSY

So on the Steiglmeier site, those people who had eaten spreadable Mettwurst in Germany, thought the American company did a good job. But those who had visited northern Germany, hotly demanded that Steiglmeier stop calling this sausage Mettwurst, when it did not resemble  the sausage they remembered.  (Sorry, you’ll have to take my word for it, as the company has apparently refreshed its site and removed the comments.)

The whole tempest in a sausage skin reminded me of the Indian tale about the blind men and the elephant. The man who touched only the ear of an elephant  thought the animal was flat and round, while the one who touched the trunk said it was an animal like a python–long and squirmy.

It does seem rather strange that two different sausages would have the same name. According to Wikipedia,  “The Low German word mett, meaning minced pork without bacon, is derived from the Old Saxon word meti (meaning food), and is related to the English word ‘meat’.” I don’t know about you, but knowing that the name of this sausage (wurst) –mett– means chopped pork, or meat, or food–does not really clarify much for me.

WHAT’S IT MADE OF?

The Steiglmeier sausage has both pork and beef, making it the Branschweiger variety. The essential flavoring in this sausage is garlic, and paprika plays a big role in this one as well, giving it a nice pink tint.

I have already written about my appreciation of the spreadable Braunschweiger.  And the style of Mettwurst I bought may be called Braunschweiger Mettwurst. You can find other names for varieties of this sausage on the excellent web site thespruceeeats.com  which also gives a scientific analysis of how the curing process works.

THE ENDLESS SAUSAGE SEARCH

The delicious garlicy Mettwurst  spread on crackers my be my favorite German sausage so far. However, I happened upon a blog post about sausage in Cincinnati that convinced me I have a duty to explore the German culture foods of my own state of Ohio. And that includes those link sausages that also go by the name of Mettwurst. My German ancestors mostly settled in northwestern Ohio as a child I lived either in the northwest or in Columbus, so Cincinnati foods were a world apart.  But, hey, its never too late to try another German sausage.

The German Sausage Series

Weisswurst

Gelbwurst

Krakauerwurst

Blutwurst

Berliner Leberwurst

 

Beyond Brats: Berliner Leberwurst, German Sausage

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Lieberwurst

A whole roll of Berliner Leberwurst from Stiglmeier sausages in Illinois, and purchased at Dickman’s Deli in Tucson.

 

Introducing the fifth German sausage that I’m trying–Berliner Leberwurst (liverwurst).  An acquired taste for some people, I seemed to be born liking  liverwurst.   So if you run for the hills at the thought of this paté-like sausage, that’s perfectly okay with me.

Leberwurst serves more as a snack or appetizer than the centerpiece of a meal.  The soft sausage spreads nicely on a cracker or a piece of bread.

 

 

 

Berliner or Bayerische?

Berliner Leberwurst

Rough texture of Berliner Leberwurst

Leberwurst sausage holds the lead place among sausage favorites in Germany. Nearly ever region has its own version. And each of those versions will have slightly different ingredients–but always liver. But what, I wondered, is a BERLINER Leberwurst?  Obviously something that comes from Berlin, but besides that?  Turns out that while the sausage makers describe Berliner as having a milder taste,  the main difference comes in the texture.  While I am used to a very smooth, fine grind for leberwurst, the Berliner leberwurst comes with lumps and bumps.

In checking the Stiglmeier web site, I noticed that they also offer several other types of leberwurst, including a Bayerisch leberwurst that is smoother, finer than the Berliner version. The ancestors I have tracked to Germany so far, generally come from Bavaria, as do several of the German Sausages that I have featured here. Maybe that explains my preference for the smoother deli-style leberwurst, and I’ll be looking for that at my neighborhood butcher shop.

Berliner Leberwurst

Berliner Leberwurst ingredients.

What is In the Sausage?

As we have seen with other sausages, “what is in the sausage” is sometimes a question better not asked.

The Stiglmeier company makes the coarse-ground sausage of

“Pork Liver, Pork, Pork Snouts, Onions, Salt, Spices, Sugar, Garlic, Marjoram, Sodium Erythorbate, Dextrose, Sodium Nitrite.”

If you weren’t turned off by the thought of the paté- like texture, the ‘pork snouts’ in the ingredients ought to chase you away.

How to Eat Berliner Leberwurst

So if it is not a centerpiece of a meal, like knackwurst or bratwurst, how do you eat Berliner (or any other) leberwurst?

One thing is missing here–if I could, I’d add a large slice of sweet onion. I can’t eat onions but when I was young, I’d eat that combo as often as my mother bought leberwurst (also sometimes called braunschweiger).

Did I Like Berliner Leberwurst?

Not as much as I liked the finer grind of liverwurst that I am used to.Those lumps you see in the picture are sometimes too hard to chew.

Want to Make Your Own?

This site has some interesting insights on the love of Germans for their leberwurst, and a recipe (no pig snouts required!)

The German Sausage Series

Weisswurst

Gelbwurst

Krakauerwurst

Blutwurst

 

Beyond Bratwurst– Blutwurst, German Blood Sausage

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Stick with me through this post on Blutwurst, and you will be rewarded by the next recipe to come–a luscious dessert is coming soon.

Now here’s a sausage that will test how adventurous your eating habits are.  Blutwurst, the German means Blood Sausage in English, turns some people off right there. Just the name.  Even if you get your steak rare or barely medium, with a little bloody juice dripping out, there is just something about being so bold as to actually eat something called blood.

Blutwurst Package

Blutwurst Package

Other Names for Blutwurst

The English, in their coy way, disguise their blood sausage under the name Black Pudding. Well, that sounds pretty innocent, doesn’t it?  Since the English also tend to call all desserts “pudding”, you might be fooled by Black Pudding.

The French call it boudin (boo-DAN), which sounds pretty classy.

Italians say biroldo.

In Poland it’s kiszka.

Ingredients of Blutwurst

And so on.  Proving that every culture that eats pigs has found a way to maximize the use of ALL of the pig.  So while I found that I do like Blutwurst, I find it necessary not to dwell on the ingredients.  It is not the blood (which can be pork or beef blood) that gets to me–it’s the “pig snouts, pork jowls and pork belly fat that are added to chopped pork, seasonings like clove and ginger, marjoram and garlic.

It seems that most other nationalities add fillers of wheat or rice or other grains, but my German ancestors thought the left over parts of the pig were just fine all by themselves–with a few seasonings, thank you.

The Blutwurst I got from Wisconsin’s German sausage maker Steiglmeir is fully cooked, but it does contain nitrite–a chemical not found in many of their sausages.  That makes it a food you eat once in a while, but not frequently.

People’s Reactions

Blutwurst sliced

Blutwurst sliced

People have a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ reaction to blutwurst. There seems to be no neutrality about this stuff.  Some are turned off at the mere thought of blood in the name. Some think they detect a strong, iron aftertaste that they hate.  Some don’t mind the taste but don’t like the texture.  (Blutwurst is soft, rather more like liverwurst than like the solid texture of bratwurst.)

How To Eat It

Like other German sausages, blutwurst can be eaten as a cold cut or fried. I was a little put off by the big globs of fat, so preferred it fried.  I found that the texture improved if I fried it longer than I would other sliced sausage.  When it cooks all the way through, it loses that “gooey” texture that it has otherwise.  However, even in an oiled cast iron skillet, it was prone to stick, so I turned it frequently.  It cooks up black and is not terribly photogenic.

Blutwurst fried

Blutwurst fried, on pumpernickel with mustard

As with the other sausages, the traditional German accompaniments taste great with blutwurst–namely potato salad and sauerkraut.  I didn’t have any sauerkraut on hand, but made a cold potato salad without mayo. In cooler weather, I would definitely make a German (hot) potato salad.  I also think I would love a few slices of apple cooked along with the sausage.

One Other Thing Not to Think About

Let’s face it, sausage does not qualify as health food, no matter how you slice it (or fry it).

But besides not thinking about ingredients, I try not to think about the nutritional value of the German Sausages I am trying out.  This one is loaded with iron, if you have an iron deficiency, however many people have to be careful not to ingest too much iron.  Otherwise, here’s the bad news about a serving of  blutwurst:

Good:

Protein, 15 grams  28%

Mixed:

Iron, 35%

Bad:

Saturated fat: 13 g., 65% of daily requirement

Ployunsaturated Fat 3.5 g.

Monosaturated Fat 16 g.

Cholesterol, 120 mg., 40% of daily requirement

Sodium 680 mg, 28 %

Vitamin D 13%

B-12  16%

Blutwurst dinner

Blutwurst on pumpernickel with potato salad

But once in a while, for a special treat, Blutwurst, sauerkraut and potato salad will fill my plate. Add some pumpernickel bread and a splash of German mustard.

Or maybe I’ll have one of these that I wrote about earlier.

  1. Weisswurst
  2. 2. Gelbwurst
  3. 3. Krakauerwurst