10 kinds of German sausages to try this Oktoberfest

SINGAPORE — Prost! That is German for cheers, and it’s probably what you’ll be hearing throughout Oktoberfest as the beer-soaked festivities kick off in Singapore. And you can’t celebrate the occasion and glug beer without the staples of pork knuckles and sausages.

While pork knuckles mostly come in one form, you can get all kinds of bratwurst or sausages. In Germany alone, there are over 40 general varieties. It is a matter of much debate who made the first one. Many from Thuringia claim that they made the first bratwurst, while Franconia’s residents believe they created it. Nonetheless, it is a ubiquitous item in Germany and in German restaurants worldwide. Since Oktoberfest is celebrated all over the globe, it goes without saying that appetites for German sausages are enormous.

If you don’t already know, sausages represent a form of food preservation and efficient butchery. Traditionally, butchers would salt leftover scraps, organ meat, blood, and fat, and stuff them into casings made from the cleaned intestines of the animal. The finished product would then be preserved by curing, drying, smoking or freezing.

So do you know your bratwurst from bockwurst? Leonhard Weber, master butcher at Pan Pacific Singapore, and Claus Schwarzmann, corporate executive chef of Brotzeit International, help decipher the best aspects of the ‘wurst.

1. Bratwurst

The name most often refers to a sausage made with pork and a natural casing. This lightly flavoured sausage is the perennial favourite in Germany, with each region having its own speciality.

Best enjoyed with ... Rotkraut (red cabbage simmered in red wine vinegar).

2. Weisswurst

Its name translates to “white sausage”. A traditional Bavarian sausage made with pork and veal, it is infused with lemon and parsley. “An authentic weisswurst must be 20 per cent veal,” said Weber. Another interesting nugget about the weisswurst is how you can eat it the traditional way — zuzel (Bavarian for sucking)-style, whereby the ends of sausage are cut or bitten open, before the filling is sucked out. These days, you can just cut the sausage lengthwise and get the filling out.

Best enjoyed with ... Pretzel and honey mustard. The sausage is typically served in a bowl together with the hot water it was boiled in.

3. Bockwurst

Made with finely ground pork flavoured with an original spice blend from Germany. Bockwurst uses a pork casing while Wienerli is a version using sheep casing.

Best enjoyed with ... Potato salad.

4. Nurnberg sausage

According to Chef Schwarzmann, this is “the most authentic style of German sausage”. Flavoured with marjoram, these sausages are known for their short, thin appearance.

Best enjoyed with ... Sauerkraut (pickled white cabbage) and light lager beer.

5. Huhnerwurst

For something with a little more kick, go for the Huhnerwurst, a spicy chicken sausage available at Brotzeit. Flavoured with a special blend of spices and red chilli, this is grilled till the skin gives a nice snap when you bite into it.

Best enjoyed with ... Roasted vegetables.

6. Kasekrainer

Popular in Vienna and Austria, this is a large sausage filled with small chunks of cheese that ooze out when you slice it. It also has a rather unappetising nickname, “eitrig”, 
which is German for “pus-filled”.

Best enjoyed with ... A baguette or bread roll. A popular way to eat this sausage is to dig a hole in one end of a crusty baguette and insert it into the bread.

7. Thuringer Rostbratwurst

A sausage unique to the German state of Thuringia, only finely minced pork, beef, or veal is used. At least 51 per cent of the ingredients must come from the state of Thuringia to qualify it as a Thuringer sausage. It is also known for its low fat content — 25 per cent.

Best enjoyed with ... Sweet Bavarian mustard, spatzle (short nibs of noodles coated in butter) and pilsner.

8. Knackwurst

Of northern German origin, this sausage is made by stuffing ground pork and fresh garlic into pork casings, ageing it for two to five days, and then smoking it over wood.

Best enjoyed with ... Rotkraut. In Hamburg, knackwurst is served with mustard and half a slice of toast.

9. Fleischwurst

Lightly flavoured with garlic, this is a large, firm cured pork sausage that comes in a horseshoe-shaped ring, the ends knotted together with a string. To eat the fleischwurst, you need to remove the skin by slitting the sausage lengthways and peeling it off.

Best enjoyed with ... Dark bread and a generous smear of mustard.

10. Bierwurst

Contrary to its name, this Bavarian speciality does not contain any beer. Rather, it is a popular snack with beer. Garlicky in flavour, it has a dark red colour and is seasoned with black peppercorns, nutmeg, paprika and mustard seeds.

Best enjoyed with ... Bread and, as its name suggests, beer.

Suggestions for where to buy your German sausages:

Pan Pacific Singapore

7 Raffles Boulevard

panpacific.com

Producing sausages and ham since 1987, the current line-up of sausages features master butcher Leonhard Weber’s recipes. His butchery experience started when he was just 14 and he joined Pan Pacific Singapore in 2015.

Huber’s Butchery

22 Dempsey Road

hubers.com.sg

The butchery sources most of its meat directly from farms and produces its own hams and sausages. Besides the more common bratwurst and weisswurst, you can also find more unique creations such as pork bratwurst made with real beer.

Swiss Butchery

30 Greenwood Ave and 56 Tanglin Road

swissbutchery.com.sg

One of Singapore’s oldest premium butcheries, Swiss Butchery’s sausages are handcrafted by its master butcher. It has created a sausage — the Summer Ale Beer Sausage — to combine the two iconic elements of Oktoberfest.