Krakauer / Krakow Sausage wrapping
The name gives away that fact that although Krakauer is classified as a German sausage, its roots are in Krakow, Poland. Krakauer can also be called Kawassy. As with the other sausages we have looked at (Weisswurst, Gelbwurst) the ingredients and look of the sausage may vary according to its origin. I have found pictures of long skinny sausages, and fatter rolls meant to slice for lunch meat or thickly sliced, fry quickly. I had that second kind.
Krakauer sausage ingredients–pork, beef, salt and garlic. “Spices” probably include pepper and nutmeg.
The sausage is traditionally 80% pork and 20% beef, and is smoked, boiled and smoked again before going to the market. One site described it as “bolder than bologna.” I definitely liked this one–either as a cold cut or fried and found various uses for it.
Krakauer sliced for cold cuts
This Stiglmeier sausage has no nitrites and is fully cooked. [A site in German says that if sausage contains nitrite it is actually dangerous to grill it, as the high heat turns the nitrite salts into a carcinogenic. I had never seen that before, an interesting thing to learn.]
First, we had it for dinner. After I browned the sausage in some vegetable oil, I stirred cubed beets into the grease and sprinkled it with nutmeg. I also fried some potatoes.
Krakauer Wurst dinner with sauteed beets and fried potatoes.
The next morning, I diced some of the sausage and stirred it into pieces of the left over fried potatoes–sautéed it and mixed in an egg. Yummy.
A couple days later, I boiled some greens (I had kale and beet greens on hand). I browned cubes of the sausage in a little vegetable oil. when the greens were tender (less than 10 minutes), I stirred them in with the sausage cubes and we had another twist on Krakauer sausage.
Krakauer/Krakow/Kawassy–whatever you want to call it–this sausage has climbed to the top of my favorites.
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