Overview
Schlackwurst is a large cylindrical sausage with white-grey bloom over a smoke-darkened casing and a fine red-and-white interior. the centre must be dry and cohesive without a hard rim. A large cylindrical sausage with white-grey bloom over a smoke-darkened casing and a fine red-and-white interior. The centre must be dry and cohesive without a hard rim. The Codex treats it as a complete production system, not merely a familiar name. Raw material, cut or particle size, casing, smoke, fermentation, cooking and maturation all contribute to the identity. The current status is Traditional German dry sausage : no EU GI. The protected or traditional reference and the Curesmith home method remain separate.
Where it's from
The cut
How to recognise it
A large cylindrical sausage with white-grey bloom over a smoke-darkened casing and a fine red-and-white interior. The centre must be dry and cohesive without a hard rim. Grease smear, hollow pockets, case hardening, a wet centre, rancidity or uncontrolled dark mould is a production fault.
Origins and history
Schlackwurst is a large German dry sausage associated with northern and central butchery. Its broad casing and substantial diameter allowed a long, slow maturation that produced a finer, milder slice than many rustic smoked sausages. The origin of the name is uncertain and should not be forced into a single picturesque story; explanations usually connect it with an older casing or sack-like form. Farm and town butchers seasoned it with pepper and warm spices, then used cool cellars and restrained smoke or surface flora according to regional practice. It remains a traditional unprotected family rather than a legally fixed national formula.
Serving and cultural significance
Slice it thinly with bread, mustard, cheese and beer. Its broad diameter gives a generous deli slice, but the cut face should be covered after service so the outer ring does not harden. It also belongs on a traditional German Abendbrot board, where its mild long-aged flavour sits between stronger smoked sausage and more delicate cooked cold cuts.
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 →The cure below is the traditional reference. “Make this” opens the measured Curesmith home recipe, scaled to your batch.
Traditional or protected production
Schlackwurst has no single legal specification. Pork, beef and firm fat are ground to a medium or fine particle size, cured, seasoned, inoculated or traditionally fermented and packed into a broad casing. The sausage is matured slowly, sometimes with restrained smoke or controlled surface flora, until it develops a firm slice. The large diameter requires conservative airflow and careful centre monitoring.
- Meat
- pork and beef
- Cut
- minced
- Salt (%)
- 2.2 to 2.5%
- Curing salt
- Cure #1
- Other agents
- dextrose; garlic, black pepper
- Fermented
- Yes
- Target pH
- ~4.9
- Starter or mould
- lactic acid bacteria starter
- Smoked
- cold-smoked
- Target aW or weight loss
- ~30% weight loss
- Temperature (°C)
- ferment then dry 12 to 14
- Humidity (%)
- 72 to 75
- Maturation
- weeks
- Basis
- percentage of meat weight
- Style
- minced, cured, fermented and dried
Ingredients
- pork and beef
- salt
- dextrose
- garlic
- black pepper
- Cure #1
Notes
- Nitrite at 156 ppm ingoing.
- Target roughly pH 4.9 through a prompt, clean ferment.
- Convert any volume spice measures to weight as a percentage of the meat.
- A regional cervelat type: coarse cut, garlic-forward, cold-smoked and dried firm.
Safety. A fermented sausage: the acid drop and drying carry the safety. Ferment promptly to close the early Staphylococcus aureus window.
In the Codex
What this product teaches, and where to read more.
Temple. Roof, pH