Food

Gelbwurst (Bavarian Yellow Sausage)

Charcuterie · German · Pork · Sausage

Gelbwurst (Bavarian Yellow Sausage)
Prep 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves About 5.5 lb / 2.5 kg — two chubs
Level Hard

A mild, very fine, almost white Bavarian slicing sausage of veal and pork in a yellow casing. Gelbwurst is uncured on purpose — no nitrite, so the meat stays pale instead of turning pink — and gently spiced with mace, white pepper, ginger, cardamom and a little onion. It is not smoked. The yellow is on the outside only: the casing is coloured, the sausage inside is not, and that pale slice inside a yellow rim is how you tell it from Lyoner. Bavarian children are handed a slice of it at the butcher’s counter; it is the mildest thing in the case.

The old name was Hirnwurst, because early formulas contained brain. A German professional manual of about 1905 gave one with 25% brain and a saffron-coloured casing. Neither survives. The formula here is built from Marianski’s Gelbwurst with the salt moved onto the meat basis. I have not made it, and it is untested as written. Because it is uncured and unsmoked it keeps like cooked meat — about a week in the fridge.

Ingredients

MEAT BLOCK (2,270 g / 5 lb), % of meat weight

  • 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) lean veal — 35.3%
  • 935 g (2 lb 1 oz) pork jowl, skin off — 41.2%
  • 535 g (1 lb 3 oz) pork belly, skin on or off — 23.5%

SALT AND ICE (% of meat weight) — NO CURE

  • 45 g salt (2.0%)
  • 400 g (14 oz) crushed ice (17.6%)

SPICE (% of meat weight)

  • 4.5 g white pepper (0.2%)
  • 2.3 g ground mace (0.1%)
  • 1.1 g ground cardamom (0.05%)
  • 0.7 g ground ginger (0.03%)
  • 23 g fresh onion, grated to a purée (1.0%)
  • 1 lemon, zest only — optional
  • 60 mm yellow fibrous casing (impermeable)

Directions

Key ingredients

Black Pepper

  1. In the collection: veal, jowl, belly and ice — and no cure at all. The nearest relatives in the collection are Weisswurst (Münchner Weißwurst), also veal-and-pork and uncured, and Bockwurst.
  2. Why no cure: nitrite is what turns cured pork pink. Gelbwurst is meant to be pale, and it gets away without nitrite because it is never smoked or held warm — it goes from the stuffer straight into the poaching water and then into the fridge. That also makes it perishable: treat it like cooked meat.
  3. Chill and grind: everything to about −1 °C / 30 °F. Grind all three meats through a 3 mm plate.
  4. Emulsify cold: in a food processor, in batches, run the veal with the salt and a third of the ice until sticky, then the spices, onion purée and another third of the ice, then the jowl and belly with the last of the ice. Stop by 12 °C / 54 °F. The batter should be smooth, pale and glossy.
  5. Test poach: a spoonful in 78 °C / 172 °F water for five minutes. It should be springy, white and mild — taste for salt now, while you can still change it.
  6. Stuff: into the soaked yellow casing, tight, with no air. These casings are impermeable to smoke and water, which keeps the colour on the outside and the moisture in.
  7. Poach: in water at 78–80 °C / 172–176 °F until the centre reads 71 °C / 160 °F, about 60–75 minutes for 60 mm. Do not boil.
  8. Chill: cold water for 15 minutes, then refrigerate overnight before slicing thin. Keeps about a week; it does not freeze well once sliced.
  9. Serve: cold on bread with mild mustard, or fried in slices. For a cured, pink, smoked cousin see Lyoner (Fleischwurst).

Notes

Where this recipe came from — and what it isn’t. Backbone: Marianski’s Gelbwurst (meatsandsausages.com): veal 300, pork belly with skin 200, jowl 350 and ice 150 per 1,000 g; salt 18 g, white pepper 2, mace 1, turmeric 1 (optional), cardamom 0.5, ginger 0.3, onion 10; no cure; emulsified; 60 mm yellow synthetic casing; cooked at 80 °C for 60 minutes. Deviations, numbered: (1) Salt is 2.0% of the meat. Marianski’s 18 g per 1,000 g includes the ice, which is 21 g/kg on the meat alone; 2.0% sits between the two and is the first thing to adjust at the test poach. (2) Turmeric is dropped. Marianski offers it to tint the meat yellow, but the traditional product is pale inside and yellow only in the casing. (3) Lemon zest is an optional addition, not Marianski’s. UNTESTED.

Where Gelbwurst came from. German trade sources trace the printed recipe to Hermann Koch’s professional manual Die Fabrikation feiner Fleisch- und Wurstwaren, second edition, about 1905, which gave a Gelbwurst containing 25% brain, in a casing coloured with saffron. Hence the older name Hirnwurst. Brain left the recipe long ago, and saffron was replaced by dyed casings. The Koch reference has not been read first-hand here. The Bavarian state’s culinary heritage register lists Bayerische Gelbwurst as a regional speciality.

The name. “Yellow sausage”, after the casing. In Swabia and Baden a similar uncured veal sausage is sold as Hirnwurst still, without any brain in it.

Variations. Some butchers paint natural casings with a saffron, egg-yolk and rum mixture after cooking instead of using dyed casing; Marianski mentions this. Parsley Gelbwurst (Petersilien-Gelbwurst) adds chopped parsley. A cheaper commercial grade replaces veal with more pork.

Sourcing and gear. Yellow 60 mm fibrous casings are sold by sausage-supply houses. Veal trim is often cheaper than you would expect from a butcher who breaks down whole carcasses. A food processor works if you keep the batches small and cold; probe after every stage.

Still open. No German food-code definition was read. Whether any current Bavarian producers still colour natural casings with saffron is not documented here.

Read more on the site. The Family Tree