The Beauty of Bavarian Culture

I've been noticing the last week that people from Bavaria look eerily like Ohioans from Cincinnati and Dayton of German descent. Logically, there must be some kind of cultural ties. And indeed, they are among the righteous of sausage culture, for they have a reasonable facsimile of white bratwurst in Bavaria. Even if they call it weisswurst or even bockwurst. And even if they sometimes make it out of veal and not pork, or pork and beef.

Strangely, Bavarians not only do not eat the skins, but reject them in a uniquely proactive way. Another page gives a more refined technique and notes that weisswurst traditionally was not eaten before midday.

But I could easily be persuaded to eat bratwurst...weisswurst...in company with soft pretzels, and I have always felt that a sweet, not too spicy mustard is right. While weisswurst looks skinnier than true bratwurst, and I feel that grilling after boiling, and serving with horseradish and skins-on are still the best way -- at least these weisswurst are made of the right things, and then cooked in their skins, not denuded until on the table. Yes, these Bavarians have a feel for the good things of life.

Btw, it seems that springerle is not the only righteous German taste treat with roots in the late Middle Ages. Yes, here's a period bratwurst recipe with redaction by Katja Orlova. See? Porrrrrrk and beef. Ya gotta have pork to make bratwurst.

From Mainz, Germany, a bratwurst that could have come straight from Zinzinnati. Still not quite as plump as could be, but note the beautiful color of the skin of the grilled bratwurst, and the nice white innards. Mainz is in southern Germany, but not as far south as Bavaria!

Make your own weisswurst (though I hope it doesn't turn out so reddish).

Everything you need to know about real sausage casings

Weisswurst in beer, with apples. Mmm!

Bavaria Sausage appears to be the solution to all your wurst problems. They have multiple styles of bratwurst (none of them quite puffy enough, alas) and more kinds of sausage than you can shake a stick at. They even have pinkelwurst, which I only know from my Aunt Dee's mom making it for New Year's (with huge amounts of kale). Mrs. Doscher's pinkelwurst is about as thick as your arm, so again this isn't quite puffy enough. But hey -- I've never even seen the stuff for sale before.