Chef Klaus
Bayerischer Wurstsalat
The Bavarian beer-garden salad that lives by the cut: thin sausage strips, raw onion, vinegar and oil, no cheese, rested long enough to taste like supper.
Culinary Explorer
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Käse-Rettich-Salat
Created by
White Rettich has bite, Bergkäse has salt and fat, and the salad works only if the radish is salted first so it weeps before the cheese goes in.
Appetizers & Snacks
German
Picnic
Budget Friendly
Quick Meal
25 min
Active Time
0 min cook•25 min total
Yield4 servings
Käse-Rettich-Salat belongs to the Bavarian and Alpine Brotzeit table, the cold board you set down with rye bread, butter, sausage, cheese, mustard, and a beer that knows its glass. It is picnic food, beer-garden food, and weeknight food when cooking would be too much and eating properly still matters.
Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. In the north, the cold table leans toward rye, herring, cucumber, and dairy; in Bavaria and the Allgäu, the white Radi, the long white radish, sits beside mountain cheese and gets cut fine enough to take salt and vinegar properly. Some cooks add onion, some caraway, some only chives. I keep the onion light and the caraway optional, because the radish and cheese are the argument.
The whole dish turns on one plain step: salt the cut Rettich first and let it weep. Raw white radish can bite like a cheap knife. Salt pulls out water, softens the burn, and gives the dressing somewhere to go. Skip that and you get watery salad with angry radish and tired cheese. Das braucht seine Zeit, but only twenty minutes.
Use a firm Bergkäse, not a rubbery sliced cheese from a packet. Nicht aus dem Glas for the dressing either: vinegar, oil, mustard, pepper, and the radish's own seasoning do the work. Toss it just before serving so the cheese stays distinct and the radish still has snap. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
The Bavarian Brotzeit table grew around working meals and beer-garden eating, especially after Munich's nineteenth-century lager cellars became public drinking places with simple cold food brought or sold alongside the beer. White radish, called Radi in Bavaria, became one of the standard beer-garden accompaniments because salt made it juicy, sharp, and thirst-making, which suited the Maßkrug table very well. Adding Alpine Bergkäse ties the salad to the southern mountain dairy belt, where hard cheeses from summer milk were built to keep long after the pasture season ended.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
white Rettich radish
Quantity
1 large, about 500g
peeled and cut into matchsticks
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Bergkäse or Allgäuer Emmentaler
Quantity
200g
cut into matchsticks
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
medium German mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
neutral oil or mild rapeseed oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
red onion or spring onions
Quantity
1 small red onion or 2 spring onions
very thinly sliced
chives
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely snipped
caraway seeds (optional)
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
lightly crushed
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
dense rye bread
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| white Rettich radishpeeled and cut into matchsticks | 1 large, about 500g |
| fine salt | 1 teaspoon |
| Bergkäse or Allgäuer Emmentalercut into matchsticks | 200g |
| white wine vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| medium German mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| neutral oil or mild rapeseed oil | 3 tablespoons |
| red onion or spring onionsvery thinly sliced | 1 small red onion or 2 spring onions |
| chivesfinely snipped | 2 tablespoons |
| caraway seeds (optional)lightly crushed | 1/2 teaspoon |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| dense rye bread | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp knife or mandoline with julienne guard
- •Mixing bowl
- •Small whisk
Instructions
- 1
Cut the radish
Peel the Rettich and cut it into thin matchsticks, not thick batons. Thin cuts take salt evenly and bend into the dressing; thick ones stay raw in the middle and fight the cheese.
- 2
Salt and weep
Toss the radish with the salt in a bowl and leave it for 20 minutes. The salt pulls out water and takes the hard raw bite down, so the salad tastes sharp and clean instead of harsh. Drain off the liquid and squeeze the radish once with your hands, gently, so it stays crisp.
Taste one piece after salting. If it is already salty enough, use less salt in the dressing later. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. - 3
Make the dressing
Whisk the vinegar and mustard together first, then whisk in the oil. Mustard helps the vinegar and oil hold for a little while, which means the dressing clings to the radish instead of running to the bottom of the bowl.
- 4
Add cheese
Cut the Bergkäse into matchsticks about the same size as the radish and add it with the onion, chives, caraway if using, and black pepper. Matching the cut matters: radish and cheese should land on the fork together, one sharp and wet, one salty and firm.
- 5
Toss and serve
Fold in the dressing just before serving and taste once more. Add vinegar if the cheese has made it too round, oil if the radish is too sharp, and salt only if the salted radish did not carry enough. Serve with dense rye bread and butter, because the bread catches the dressing. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Chef Tips
- •Buy a firm, heavy white Rettich with smooth skin. A bendy or spongy one has been sitting too long, and no dressing will put the snap back into it.
- •Use Bergkäse with some age, but don't make it a cheese contest. If the cheese is too old and salty, it bullies the radish; if it is too mild, the salad tastes thin.
- •Caraway belongs here if you like it, but crush it lightly first. Whole hard seeds roll around the bowl and taste dusty; crushed seeds give the oil their warmth.
- •Do not dress it hours ahead. Salt the radish ahead if you need to, but toss with cheese and oil close to serving so the salad stays bright.
Advance Preparation
- •The radish can be cut, salted, drained, and chilled up to 4 hours ahead. Keep it covered and add the cheese and dressing only before serving.
- •The dressing can be whisked a day ahead and kept in a jar in the refrigerator. Shake it hard before using because oil and vinegar separate when left alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 250g)
Calories
400 calories
Total Fat
25 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
720 mg
Total Carbohydrates
29 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
17 g
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