Käsekrainer

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Meat grinder with coarse (6-8mm) grinding plate
• •Sausage stuffer or stuffing attachment
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Large pot for poaching (6-liter minimum)
• •Grill or heavy cast iron skillet (28cm)

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare casings and chill equipment

   Soak the hog casings in cold water for at least thirty minutes, then rinse them under running water, flushing the insides gently. They should be soft and pliable, almost translucent. While they soak, put your meat grinder parts (the grinding plates, blade, and stuffing tube) in the freezer. Cold equipment is not a suggestion. Warm metal smears the fat instead of cutting it cleanly, and smeared fat means greasy, crumbly sausages instead of juicy, snappy ones. This is the single most important principle of sausage-making: everything stays cold.

   If you don't own a meat grinder, ask your butcher to coarsely grind the pork shoulder and back fat together. Tell them it's for sausage and ask them to keep it cold. Many good butchers will do this happily.
2. 2

   Grind the meat

   Spread the cubed pork shoulder and back fat on a baking tray in a single layer and put them in the freezer for fifteen minutes. You want the meat firm and nearly frozen at the edges, not solid through. Grind through the coarse plate (6 to 8mm) into a chilled bowl set over a larger bowl of ice. Work quickly. The moment the fat starts to feel soft or sticky under your fingers, stop and put everything back in the freezer for ten minutes. Speed and cold are your two allies here. Respect both.

3. 3

   Season the farce

   Add the salt, pepper, paprika, caraway, and minced garlic to the ground meat. Pour in the ice-cold water. Now mix with your hands, working the farce firmly for about two minutes. You'll feel it change texture under your fingers. It goes from a loose pile of ground meat to something that holds together and pulls cleanly away from the side of the bowl. That stickiness means the salt-soluble proteins have started to bind. This is what gives the finished sausage its snap when you bite through the casing. If the farce still feels crumbly, keep working it.

   The salt ratio here is about 1.8% of the total meat weight, which is standard for fresh sausage. Don't reduce it. Salt isn't just seasoning in sausage-making. It's the thing that binds the proteins and creates the texture.
4. 4

   Fold in the cheese

   Scatter the Emmental cubes over the farce and fold them in gently with a spatula or your hands. You want the cheese distributed evenly, but you don't want to crush the cubes. They need to stay as distinct little pieces so they create pockets of melted cheese inside the finished sausage. If you mash them in, the cheese just disappears into the meat and you lose the whole point. Five or six folds is enough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for fifteen minutes while you set up for stuffing.

   Cut the Emmental into precise 5 to 6mm cubes, no larger. Bigger pieces sound generous but they create weak spots in the casing that burst open on the grill before the rest of the sausage is cooked through. Small cubes, many pockets. That's the goal.
5. 5

   Stuff the sausages

   Slide the soaked casing onto the stuffing tube, leaving about ten centimeters hanging off the end. Tie a knot in that trailing end. Feed the farce through the stuffer slowly and steadily, supporting the casing with one hand as it fills. Pack firmly but not so tight that the casing feels like it might burst. You need a little give because the filling expands as it heats on the grill. When you've used all the farce, twist the casing into six equal links, rotating each one in alternating directions so they hold their shape. Prick any visible air bubbles with a clean pin.

   Your first few sausages might look uneven. That's fine. Käsekrainer from a Würstelstand aren't perfect cylinders either. As long as the casing is intact and the filling is firm, you're in good shape.
6. 6

   Poach to set

   Bring a large pot of water to 75°C. Use a thermometer. This temperature matters because you want the meat proteins to set gently without melting the cheese prematurely or splitting the casings. Too hot and the casings burst in the pot. Too cool and the sausage stays raw inside. Lower the links into the water and poach for twenty minutes, keeping the temperature between 72°C and 78°C. They're done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 68°C. Lift them out carefully with tongs and let them cool on a wire rack. At this point you can refrigerate them for up to three days or move straight to the grill.

7. 7

   Grill until blistered

   Heat your grill to medium. Not high. This is where patience pays off. Käsekrainer need time on the grill so the cheese inside has a chance to melt into golden pools while the casing blisters and chars. Lay the sausages on the grate and grill for eight to ten minutes, turning every couple of minutes, until the skin is taut and golden brown with dark grill marks. You'll know the cheese is melting when the casing starts to bulge slightly at the seams. If the casing splits and a rivulet of molten Emmental escapes onto the grill grate, that's not a mistake. That's the whole point of the dish.

   No grill? A heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat with a thin film of oil works well. You won't get smoke flavor but you'll still get blistered skin and molten cheese.
8. 8

   Serve Würstelstand style

   Put each Käsekrainer on a plate with a fresh Semmel torn open alongside. Set out the scharfer Senf, süßer Senf, freshly grated Kren, and a few Pfefferoni if you like heat. The sharp mustard cuts through the richness of the pork and cheese. The Kren clears your sinuses and makes you reach for another bite before you've finished the first. This is not a knife-and-fork situation. Pick it up. Eat it standing if you can. That's the Viennese way. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •If you don't want to make sausages from scratch, find a good butcher who makes Käsekrainer or ask them to make a batch for you. A proper butcher's Käsekrainer grilled well at home is still a beautiful thing. No shame in it.
• •The 80/20 ratio of pork shoulder to back fat is important. Too lean and the sausage dries out on the grill. Too fatty and it turns slick and greasy. Pork shoulder already has some intramuscular fat, so the added back fat brings you to the right balance for a sausage that stays juicy without being heavy.
• •Use real Emmental, not processed cheese. Austrian or Swiss Emmental has a sharper flavor, a better melt, and it holds its shape as cubes in the farce instead of dissolving during mixing. The cheese is the whole reason this sausage exists. It deserves a good one.
• •Grate the Kren fresh at the table. Jarred horseradish is not the same thing. Fresh Kren has a heat that hits your nose like a freight train and fades to a clean, sharp finish. The jarred stuff just sits there doing nothing.

Advance Preparation

• •Käsekrainer can be made through the poaching step and refrigerated for up to three days. Grill them straight from the fridge, adding two to three extra minutes on the grill to compensate for the cold start.
• •Fully poached sausages freeze well for up to two months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before grilling.
• •Soak the casings a day ahead if you like. They keep happily in water in the fridge and are ready when you are.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)