Germany: Nuremberg acquires Sausage Museum

Grilled Nuremberg sausages are famous and now have their own museum. The only downside is that guests can not try them inside but only outside.
In addition to the traditional Christmas Market and the painter Albrecht Dürer, a trademark of the famous German city is the grilled Nuremberg sausages. So what is more logical for this city of Franconia in Bavaria to have a special museum dedicated exclusively to sausages.

Grilled sausage belongs to the traditional German food and is ubiquitous in the public and private life of the Germans either on the grill in the garden, or in the traditional festivals, or on the football fields. According to the German Butchers Association, the average German consumes 2.7 kg of sausages every year. It should be noted that despite the trend towards a healthier diet, often without meat, the consumption of sausages has remained more or less stable in Germany in recent years.

The selection of sausages in Germany remains huge. According to Reinhard von Stutz, a spokesman for the butchers’ association, “this is due to the traditional profession of butcher, who brought all kinds of sausages to every corner of Germany.” Sausages for roasting are available in all sizes, for frying or for grilling and contain many different ingredients: except of course the meat, usually pork, they are made with herbs and spices of all kinds. Even cheese, snaps or even chocolate. As for the Nuremberg sausages, however, their creators must respect restrictions because just like the Thuringian sausages, the Nuremberg sausages are PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) products, as has been the case for many years with French champagne and Italian chorizo.

“They are necessarily accompanied by horseradish and not mustard”

Since then, only those made in the second most populous Bavarian city after Munich have been called Nuremberg sausages. They have a length of 7 to 9 cm and a weight of 20 to 25 grams. “The size and weight of sausages cannot be historically documented,” says Rainer Heimler of the Nuremberg Sausage Protection Federation. Contains exclusively pork with a strong marjoram flavor, which should overlap with all other herbs or spices.

The visitor of the new sausage museum, which was founded by the Nuremberg Sausage Protection Federation, is informed about all this. It is the second museum of its kind in German after the Thuringian Sausage Museum. In a total of 100 square meters, visitors learn everything about the history of seven centuries of traditional sausage from information boards, screens and exhibits. Only sausages are not offered to those interested. Unfortunately they can only see one video of grilling sausages.

There is a solution, however. Around the museum in the historic center of Nuremberg there are many pubs and small restaurants where the visitor will find as many sausages as his soul desires. They are traditionally served on a tin plate with sauerkraut and potato salad. The famous German cook, born in Nuremberg, Alexander Herman proudly explains: “Sausages are necessarily accompanied by horseradish and not mustard. “Nowhere else in the world will you find these sausages cooked like here.”

To be consumed in moderation and sparsely

As early as the 19th century, travelers and travelers visited Nuremberg to try the traditional sausages in its famous inns. It was originally the food of the poor, sold in makeshift kitchens along the streets.

“Sausages were one of the first fast food products,” says Astrid Danalis of the German Dietetic Association. Grilled sausages gave those who ate them the energy they needed to carry out the many heavy manual tasks of that time. Today, however, nutritionists recommend due to the high percentage of fat to be consumed in moderation and as sparsely as possible.

DW – Irena Gittel / Stefanos Georgakopoulos