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German Sausages

A sausage made from lean beef, lean pork, bacon fat, beef suet, spices, herbs, eggs, and flour, smoked and boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

German Sausages

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Combine equal parts of chopped lean beef and lean pork with more than half that quantity of chopped bacon fat and beef suet.

  2. Season the mixture with coarse sea salt, saltpetre, black pepper, allspice, and cloves; mix well and let sit overnight.

  3. Chop red sage, thyme, knotted marjoram, and winter savory; use half red sage and equal parts of the other herbs.

  4. Add the herbs to the meat mixture along with 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon of flour.

Stuff and cook

  1. Pound the mixture in a mortar until well combined, then stuff into cleaned ox‑guts.

  2. Smoke the sausages for several days over sawdust.

  3. Prick the skins, then boil in a vessel of boiling water for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on thickness.

  4. Lay the sausages on clean straw to dry.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Allspice + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main lean meat body and firm bite of the sausage.
Lean pork
Adds meat flavour and helps the filling bind together when pounded.
Bacon fat
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the sausage juicy as it cooks.
Beef suet
Adds fat that melts during cooking, giving a tender, moist texture.
Eggs
Help bind the meat mixture so it holds together when stuffed and cooked.
Flour
Absorbs some moisture and helps the filling hold a firmer texture.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture until well combined. Thorough pounding spreads the salt, cure and herbs evenly and binds the meat into a cohesive filling, so the sausage slices cleanly and cooks with an even texture.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pork, pepper, allspice, sage, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, pepper, allspice, sage, thyme, marjoram. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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