Chef Elsa
Eiersalat (Austrian Egg Salad)
Cool, creamy Austrian egg salad with sour gherkins and tart apple in a mustard-yogurt dressing, the kind of honest Jause food that tastes like an Austrian Easter table and works beautifully all year round.
Culinary Explorer
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Fleischsalat (Austrian Meat Salad)
Created by
Extrawurst cut into strips and bound with mayonnaise, pickle brine, and diced gherkins. The Feinkost counter classic you can make at home in fifteen minutes and eat all week on a Semmel.
Salads
Austrian
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•15 min total
Yield4 servings
Every Feinkost counter in Austria has a version of Fleischsalat behind the glass. It sits in a white ceramic bowl between the Liptauer and the Eiaufstrich, pale pink and flecked with green, waiting for someone to point at it and say "a hundred grams of that, please." I grew up eating it on Semmeln during the annual trips to Austria with Gretel and my grandmother Eva. We'd stop at a market, buy rolls and Fleischsalat and a bottle of Almdudler, and eat in the car or on a bench somewhere between Salzburg and the Salzkammergut. It tasted like the trip was officially starting.
The recipe is almost absurdly simple. Extrawurst, the mild, smooth Viennese sausage that every Austrian child grows up on, cut into strips and dressed with mayonnaise, diced gherkins, and a splash of pickle brine. That's it. The brine is the secret. It cuts through the richness of the mayo and gives the salad a tang that keeps you reaching back for another bite. Without it, you have a heavy, dull spread. With it, you have something that belongs on good bread.
Fleischsalat is not dinner-party food and it doesn't pretend to be. It's Jause, the afternoon meal that Austrians take seriously the way the English take tea. A Semmel split open, a thick layer of Fleischsalat, maybe a pickle alongside, and you're fed. Good Austrian home cooking doesn't always involve a stove. Sometimes it's a sharp knife, a mixing bowl, and the sense to leave well enough alone.
Fleischsalat belongs to the broader tradition of Austrian Aufstriche and Salate that anchor the Jause, the light meal eaten between lunch and supper. Extrawurst itself has been a Viennese staple since the 19th century, a finely emulsified sausage made from beef and pork that gets its characteristic smoothness from back fat worked into the Brät at low temperatures. The name literally means 'extra sausage,' referring to the bonus sausage a butcher would throw in for good customers. It became so fundamental to Austrian daily eating that 'das ist mir Extrawurst' entered the language as an idiom meaning special treatment.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Extrawurst
Quantity
300g
sliced 3-4mm thick at the Feinkost counter
good mayonnaise
Quantity
4 tablespoons
Essiggurken (pickled gherkins)
Quantity
4 medium, about 80g
Gurkenwasser (pickle brine)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
white onion
Quantity
1 small, about 60g
mild mustard (Kremser Senf or Dijon)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
sweet paprika
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
white pepper
Quantity
freshly ground, to taste
salt
Quantity
to taste
fresh chives
Quantity
small bunch
finely cut
Semmeln (Austrian bread rolls)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Extrawurstsliced 3-4mm thick at the Feinkost counter | 300g |
| good mayonnaise | 4 tablespoons |
| Essiggurken (pickled gherkins) | 4 medium, about 80g |
| Gurkenwasser (pickle brine) | 2 tablespoons |
| white onion | 1 small, about 60g |
| mild mustard (Kremser Senf or Dijon) | 1 teaspoon |
| sweet paprika | 1/2 teaspoon |
| white pepper | freshly ground, to taste |
| salt | to taste |
| fresh chivesfinely cut | small bunch |
| Semmeln (Austrian bread rolls) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp knife and cutting board
- •Mixing bowl
- •Spoon for folding
Instructions
- 1
Cut the Extrawurst
Stack the Extrawurst slices three or four high and cut them into strips about half a centimeter wide, then across into short batons roughly two centimeters long. You're not aiming for precision. You want pieces that sit comfortably on a Semmel and hold the dressing without falling off. If you cut them too fine, you'll end up with paste. Too chunky and it won't spread. Think matchstick-sized, give or take.
Ask the Feinkost counter to slice the Extrawurst 3-4mm thick. If you buy pre-sliced vacuum packs, the slices are usually too thin and the strips collapse when you mix them. You want a little body. - 2
Dice the gherkins and onion
Dice the Essiggurken into small cubes, about the same size as your Extrawurst strips. Peel and dice the white onion very finely, smaller than the gherkins. The onion should dissolve into the dressing, not announce itself in every bite. If raw onion is too sharp for you, soak the diced onion in cold water for five minutes, then drain well. This takes the edge off without losing the flavor.
- 3
Build the dressing
In a mixing bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, pickle brine, and paprika until smooth. The pickle brine is what separates a proper Fleischsalat from a heavy, claggy one. It thins the dressing just enough, adds acidity, and brings everything together. Start with two tablespoons and taste. You want the dressing loose enough to coat the Extrawurst but not so wet that it puddles on the plate.
Gretel always said the brine does more work than the mayonnaise in a good Fleischsalat. The vinegar in it brightens everything. If your salad tastes flat, it needs more brine, not more mayo. - 4
Combine and season
Add the Extrawurst strips, diced gherkins, and onion to the dressing. Fold everything together gently with a spoon. You're coating, not mashing. Season with white pepper and salt, but go carefully on the salt. The Extrawurst and gherkins both carry salt already, and the brine adds more. Taste first. White pepper rather than black, because black pepper leaves dark specks that look wrong against the pale pink and green.
- 5
Rest in the fridge
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes. An hour is better. The Fleischsalat needs this time. The dressing soaks into the Extrawurst strips, the flavors settle and merge, and the whole thing becomes cohesive instead of tasting like separate ingredients in the same bowl. Straight out of the mixing bowl it's fine. After an hour in the fridge it's proper.
Overnight is even better. Fleischsalat made the evening before and eaten the next day for Jause has a rounded, mellow quality that the freshly mixed version can't match. - 6
Serve for Jause
Spoon the Fleischsalat into a bowl or spread it generously onto a halved Semmel. Scatter cut chives over the top. Serve it cold, straight from the fridge. This is Jause food: a crusty roll, a thick layer of Fleischsalat, maybe an Essiggurke on the side for good measure, and a cold Bier or a Spritzer if the afternoon calls for it. Mahlzeit!
Chef Tips
- •Extrawurst is not bologna and it's not Fleischwurst. It has a finer texture and a milder, cleaner flavor. If you can't find it, ask for the smoothest, mildest cooked sausage at your deli counter. Mortadella without pistachios works in a pinch, though it's richer than the original.
- •Use a good mayonnaise. This salad has five ingredients and the mayo is doing most of the talking. If your mayonnaise tastes like oil and vinegar and nothing else, make your own or buy a better jar. Austrian Fleischsalat traditionally uses a slightly tangy mayo, closer to Hellmann's than to something sweet.
- •Don't skip the resting time. I know it's tempting to eat it straight away. Freshly made Fleischsalat tastes like ingredients. After an hour in the fridge, it tastes like a salad. The difference is real.
- •Fleischsalat keeps beautifully in a sealed container in the fridge for three to four days. Make a batch on Sunday evening and you have Jause sorted for the week.
Advance Preparation
- •Fleischsalat improves overnight. Make it the evening before you plan to serve it and the flavors will be noticeably more rounded.
- •Keeps well in a sealed container in the fridge for three to four days. The texture softens slightly over time but the flavor only gets better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 135g)
Calories
300 calories
Total Fat
27 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
1220 mg
Total Carbohydrates
2 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
9 g
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