Kölscher Kaviar (Flönz mit Öllich)

Kölscher Kaviar is Cologne humour on a plate. No fish roe. A thick slice of Flönz, the Rhineland blood sausage, on a rye Röggelchen with raw onion rings, mustard, and a glass of Kölsch. This sits in the Brauhaus and at the kitchen table, for Karneval, football, a quick supper, or the hour when nobody is cooking a roast.

The regions split fast on blood sausage. In Cologne I serve it cold and proud, with Öllich, onion, and rye. In Westphalia it often goes into Himmel und Erde with apples and potatoes. Further south you meet pressed blood sausages and warm plates with sauerkraut. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. This is Rhineland food, not a Bavarian costume party.

The technique is not cooking, it is cutting and holding. Slice the Flönz thick and keep it cool until the bread is ready, because blood sausage is soft with fat and blood; cut it thin or leave it warm on the board and it smears instead of sitting clean. The onion gets a short cold-water soak, not because we fear onion, but because the raw burn would bully the sausage. Crunch stays. Fire goes.

Use real rye, a sharp mustard, and a sausage from a butcher who still knows what Flönz means. Nicht aus dem Glas does not matter here as a sauce rule, but the same sense applies: buy the thing that carries the dish. Then set it down without fuss. Schön ist, was schmeckt.