Weisswurst

Weisswurst, literally translated to English, means "white sausage". It is a fresh sausage, and is highly perishable, so is considered to be a "fine" example of German smallgoods. Good fresh weisswurst, grilled or barbequed over open flame, is a highly rewarding sausage experience for the consumer.

The constituent meats of the classical weisswurst are equal parts pork jowl fat and veal, very finely ground. Uncommonly for German sausage, the weisswurst is only mildly seasoned, with salt, white pepper, sugar, and small amounts of mace and ginger. The Swiss add some lemon zest and milk powder to the mix.

Links are commonly four inches long and plump.

research sources include Ariel's Recipe Archive, and the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council

The Weisswurst (or Weißwurst before the Rechtschreibreform) is the traditional Bavarian food, to a degree that there is the (humorous) expression Weisswurstäquator, an imaginary line around Munich (with a radius of about 100km) that encompasses all of "real" Bavaria and, by extension, all that really matters to a real Bavarian.

Since the Weisswurst is (or used to be) highly perishable, it is traditionally eaten before noon, often for a second breakfast (Weisswurstfrühstück). The saying was the "The Weisswurst must not hear the 12 o'clock chime", since otherwise it might spoil. Nowadays, this is not really a problem due to preservatives, so it can be eaten for dinner or lunch, although this is still frowned upon by traditionalists. But even those who allow for eating it after noon agree that the only tolerable combinations for Weisswurst are Brezel, wheat beer and (most importantly) sweet mustard.

Another very important (and disputed) aspect is the eating techique. The only thing that everyone agrees to is that the Weisswurst's skin is not eaten. But how to get the tasty morsel out of the skin? There are basically two methods:

• Zutzeln: cut the sausage open at one end, hold it in your hand, dip it into the mustard and suck it out of the skin. Repeat, and cut off the skin when it becomes an impediment. This method is most popular with traditionalists. If you, as a tourist, do it this way, your hosts will be very pleasantly surprised.
• Cut the sausage in half lengthwise (but not through the skin at the bottom) and extract parts of it with your fork. This method is acceptable and preferred by some Bavarians.
• Everything else (cutting the sausage into pieces, skinning it or eating it with the skin) is done only by Prussian barbarians.