Over the last 10 days we have had great late spring weather where I live. It has been regularly between 20-25°C which has been a great start to May. I found it strange last Saturday morning Mrs Oregano said to me "you know this reminds me of the weather we had when we would cycle to a Biergarten for a Wurstsalat und Radler". Wurstsalat means literally "sausage (cold cut) salat" and Radler means literally "cyclist" but is basically a lager shandy.

Well, it is a decade since we lived in Bavaria but a few hours earlier I had thought exactly the same. In a decade back in the UK we had only made one attempt to make a Wurstsalat. We then disputed over what we recalled as a "Wurstsalat". I recalled that a Biergarten near my office (in Zamdorf) offered a bayerische Wurstsalat which was a Bavarian salad of cold sausage and vegetables and a schweizer Wurstsalat (Swiss sausage salad) which was essentially the same but with Swiss cheese and a bit less sausage. In both cases I recall there being thinly sliced sausage combined with firm vegetables such as red onion, fennel (and maybe white radish). Both my wife and I recall thinly sliced pickled gherkins in many instances. I also recall the use of a few young sprigs of lovage. There was always a fairly watery salad dressing very evident on the plate.

The idea of "cold sausage salad" is foreign in the UK. However I am convinced that some better-prepared simple but hearty German dishes would find a great resonance in the UK; especially with a beer or cider.

Last Saturday I decided to visit my Lidl to get at least a limited choice of German cooked sausage and made the following. There is absolutely no claim (indeed more like a disclaimer) on authenticity.

 

Serves 4

1 red onion
half fennel bulb
100 g radishes
half a cucumber
50 g pickled gherkin
100 g bockwurst
100 g thinly sliced garlic sausage or paprika salami
100 g Emmentaler cheese
75 ml vegetable oil
25 ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp whole grain mustard
25 ml water
salt and pepper

Method

1. Slice the red onion, fennel, cucumber and radishes into 1 mm slices
2. Thinly slice the pickled gherkin
3. Slice the bockwurst into 3 mm or thinner slices
4. Slice the cheese into thin strips
5. Toss the sausage, cheese and vegetables thoroughly together
6. Mix the oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and water as a dressing,
7. Toss the salad with the dressing then serve.

I just wanted to share that spontaneously as most meat-eating people in the UK have not been exposed to the idea.

Now, back to reality of today...I have been in Munich for the last two days on business. Tonight I went to the Weißenfeldenerhof for dinner with old friends. This was opened shortly before we moved back to the UK but seemed a decent restaurant and Biergarten. I have not been there for at least seven years but around 2000 it had a good repuation for food generally but specifically for spare ribs and Flammkuchen. In about 2001 I organised a team meeting in Munich and promised spareribs in Weißenfeld during Winter only to find it was off the menu .

 

Tonight I met old friends from our time in Bavaria and despite the temptation to go for spareribs or flammkuchen, I thought I should order a Wurstsalat to settle the argument at home.

  

This was a good Biergarten but despite that the salad was much simpler than what Mrs Oregano or I were proposing. It was simply a cooked sausage - thinly (~1 mm) thick - thinly sliced red onion and a dressing. The remaining garnish was a sprig of lamb's lettuce, a slice of tomato, a lettuce leaf and slice of cucumber. It tasted pretty good with a Weißbier. Guten Appetit!