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.
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Weißwurstsalat
Created by
The Munich sausage that usually stops at the noon bell gets a second life cold: peeled, sliced, and dressed sharp enough to wake the veal without bullying it.
Appetizers & Snacks
German
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
Picnic
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 appetizer servings
Weißwurstsalat belongs to Bavaria after the morning rule has already been broken. Weißwurst is Munich food, tied to the second breakfast, the Weißwurstfrühstück, with sweet mustard, a Breze, and a wheat beer if the day allows it. The old rule says the sausage shouldn't hear the noon bell. Fine. Then the cooked ones left from the morning become salad. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
The regions don't agree on sausage salad, and they shouldn't. In Swabia and Baden, Wurstsalat often means Lyoner or Regensburger cut into strips, sharper vinegar, sometimes cheese near the Swiss border. In Munich I keep the Bavarian centre: peeled Weißwurst, sweet mustard in the dressing, onion, chives, radish, no cheese. Das ist kein Bierzelt. It's a Brotzeit, the bread-time snack table, made properly.
The make-or-break is simple: peel the sausages cold and soften the onion in vinegar before it touches the veal. The casing is fine in the morning water, but cold it turns rubbery and blocks the dressing. Raw onion thrown straight in will bully the mild sausage; ten minutes in vinegar takes off the burn and gives the dressing its first seasoning. Then fold, don't mash. This is a salad, not mortar.
Serve it cold, not refrigerator-dead, with a torn Breze and more sweet mustard at the side. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. Taste before you salt, because the sausage and mustard have already spoken.
Munich tradition dates Weißwurst to 22 February 1857 at the inn Zum Ewigen Licht on Marienplatz, where butcher-innkeeper Sepp Moser is said to have used pork casings for a veal sausage when sheep casings ran out. The rule that a Weißwurst should not hear the noon bell belongs to the pre-refrigeration sale of fresh Brühwurst, a scalded sausage, made in the morning and eaten quickly. Weißwurstsalat puts the cooled sausage into the southern German Wurstsalat family, where Bavaria keeps sweet mustard and Breze close while Swabia, Baden, and the Swiss border argue for Lyoner, Regensburger, sharper vinegar, or cheese.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cooked Weißwürste
Quantity
6
chilled
red onion
Quantity
1 small
sliced paper-thin
white wine vinegar or mild beer vinegar
Quantity
3 tablespoons
sweet Bavarian mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
medium-hot German mustard (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
cold sausage poaching liquid or cold water
Quantity
2 tablespoons
rapeseed oil or sunflower oil
Quantity
4 tablespoons
radishes or Rettich (white beer radish)
Quantity
6 radishes or 150g Rettich
thinly sliced
chives
Quantity
1 small bunch
cut into short batons
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
fine salt
Quantity
only if needed
Brezen
Quantity
4
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cooked Weißwürstechilled | 6 |
| red onionsliced paper-thin | 1 small |
| white wine vinegar or mild beer vinegar | 3 tablespoons |
| sweet Bavarian mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| medium-hot German mustard (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| cold sausage poaching liquid or cold water | 2 tablespoons |
| rapeseed oil or sunflower oil | 4 tablespoons |
| radishes or Rettich (white beer radish)thinly sliced | 6 radishes or 150g Rettich |
| chivescut into short batons | 1 small bunch |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| fine salt | only if needed |
| Brezento serve | 4 |
Equipment Needed
- •Small sharp knife for peeling the casing
- •Mixing bowl
- •Small whisk
- •Mandoline for the onion and radish, optional
Instructions
- 1
Peel the sausages
Start with cooked, chilled Weißwürste. Cut a shallow slit lengthwise through each casing and peel it away, then slice the sausage into 1cm coins on a slight angle. Cold sausage cuts clean and keeps its fat inside; warm sausage tears, smears, and makes the dressing cloudy before you've even begun.
Package language matters. Many Weißwürste are sold already scalded as Brühwurst; if the label says raw, poach them gently first until the centre reaches 71C, then chill them completely before slicing. - 2
Soften the onion
Put the sliced onion in a mixing bowl with the vinegar and a small pinch of salt, then leave it for 10 minutes. The vinegar pulls out the raw onion burn and turns the onion juice into part of the dressing. Skip this and the salad tastes of onion first and Weißwurst second.
- 3
Whisk the dressing
Stir the sweet mustard and the medium-hot mustard, if using, into the onion and vinegar until smooth, then whisk in the cold poaching liquid or water. Add the oil in a thin stream and whisk until the dressing looks glossy and loose. The water keeps the mustard from clumping around the sausage; the oil carries the mild veal flavour instead of covering it. Grind in black pepper, but hold the salt for the end.
- 4
Fold the salad
Add the sliced Weißwurst and radishes to the bowl and fold gently with a broad spoon until every piece has a light coat of dressing. Don't stir hard. The sausage is tender and already cooked, and rough mixing breaks the slices into paste at the edges. Leave the salad 15 minutes so the dressing settles into the cut surfaces.
- 5
Finish and serve
Fold in the chives at the last minute so they stay green and sharp, then taste. Add salt only if the sausage and mustard haven't done enough. Serve cold, but not ice-cold, with torn Brezen and extra sweet mustard on the side. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Buy real Weißwurst with a fine pale filling and green parsley flecks. A smoked sausage or browned breakfast sausage belongs to another plate; here the mild veal is the point.
- •Peel every sausage. The casing may behave in hot water, but in a cold salad it chews like a rubber band and keeps the dressing out.
- •Use mild vinegar. Weißwurst is gentle, so a harsh vinegar makes the salad taste pickled instead of dressed.
- •For a picnic, pack it cold and keep it cold. Sausage salad is not something to leave in the sun while everyone argues about the football.
- •Eat it the day it's made. By tomorrow the onion is stronger, the radish is softer, and the veal has given up its clean taste.
Advance Preparation
- •The sausages can be poached, cooled, and kept covered in the refrigerator one day ahead. Peel and slice them on the day you serve, because the cut surfaces dry out.
- •The onion can sit in the vinegar for up to 2 hours ahead; it gets softer and milder, which is useful for a picnic.
- •Fold the sausage into the dressing 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Longer than that and the acid starts to dull the mild veal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 285g)
Calories
650 calories
Total Fat
38 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
75 mg
Sodium
1900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
56 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
23 g
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