Karnatzlach
Also known as karnatzel, Romanian Jewish beef sausage
New York, United States
Overview
Karnatzlach is a Jewish Romanian-style skinless beef sausage associated especially with the restaurants and delicatessens of New York's Lower East Side. It is related to Romanian mititei but adapted to kosher meat practice and American urban dining.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
The Yiddish and restaurant spelling karnatzlach is plural; karnatzel is used for a single piece. The name has been applied to both sausage-shaped minced meat and cased products, but the characteristic New York form is uncased.
Composition and characteristics
Beef, often with added beef fat, is seasoned with garlic, pepper, paprika and other warm spices. The texture is finely minced and springy, formed into short cylinders without pork casing.
Production and process
The seasoned mixture is rested, shaped and grilled or broiled. Kosher versions require certified meat, ingredients, equipment and supervision, not merely the omission of pork.
History and regional forms
Romanian Jewish immigrants carried grilled minced-meat traditions to New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Lower East Side restaurants turned karnatzlach into a recognised appetiser and delicatessen item alongside pastrami, kishka and chopped liver.
Use, storage and related products
It is served with mustard, pickles, bread or fried onions. It is related to mititei, ćevapi and kofta but has a specific Romanian-Jewish and New York history.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, run it through one of our curing calculators so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →“Make this” opens the same cure as a measured recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- Beef chuck
- Cut
- Beef chuck
- Salt (%)
- 1.8
- Curing salt
- None
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- Raw formed sausages ≤4°C for up to 1 day; freeze for longer storage
- Basis
- per 1,000 g beef chuck
- Style
- Fresh uncased Jewish Romanian-American beef sausage
Ingredients
- Beef chuck100% · 1000 g
- Fine salt1.8% · 18 g
- Ground black pepper0.2% · 2 g
- Sweet paprika0.2% · 2 g
- Cayenne0.1% · 1 g
- Fresh garlic, minced0.69% · 7 g
- Fresh onion, finely diced8.8% · 90 g
- Fresh parsley, finely chopped1.6% · 16 g
- Fresh sage, finely chopped0.4% · 4 g
- Carrot, finely grated1.5% · 15 g
- Dried thyme0.1% · 1 g
- Rubbed oregano0.1% · 1 g
- Dried marjoram0.1% · 1 g
- Whole egg, without shell9.8% · 100 g
- Plain wheat flour for dredging3.9% · 40 g
Method
- Chill beef and egg to 0–4°C.
- Grind beef through 10 mm.
- Add salt, spices, garlic, onion, herbs, carrot and egg; mix until evenly bound.
- Shape uniform cylinders 75–100 mm long and 25 mm thick.
- Coat lightly in flour and refrigerate for 1–4 hours.
- Pan-fry or grill until the cold point reaches 71°C.
Safety. Uncased minced beef must be kept cold and cooked safely. Kosher status is separate from food safety.