I visited Berlin many years ago, I no longer remember which year, and I loved it a lot.
Berlin definitely falls within my top ten favorite European cities.
The German capital, with its beautiful streets, its history, its entertainment, its youth, has remained a true gem.
Berlin is splendid, Berliners reliable, organized and kind, the only downside was the food.
It is known that Germans are not particularly famous for their cuisine…
In Berlin, I remember eating well only at KartoffelHouse, near the town square, but that was many years ago and over time my tastes have changed. In fact, when I returned to Germany, in Munich, in September 2025, it went much better!
However, I want to dispel a cliché, that German cuisine is only sausages (an Italian term that doesn’t even exist in German!) and sauerkraut, because it isn’t.
I got to know it better during the ethnic cooking evenings at my Cultural Association, and although sauerkraut is omnipresent, as are potatoes, you cannot talk about common sausages, when referring to German sausages, but rather Bratwurste, and the difference is remarkable.
Forget the packaged sausages we find in our supermarkets and think of something much tastier and artisanal.
Bratwurste are similar to our sausages, they are a specialty of Bavarian cuisine that have always been present in German gastronomy.
The difference with our sausages lies in the way they are seasoned: sausages, at least the southern ones, by definition, are minced and mixed with pepper and salt, often chili and can also be from chicken and turkey.
Instead, Bratwurst are specifically from pork, mixed with beef, seasoned with ginger, nutmeg, marjoram, and very often beer is also added.
The name comes from Old High German Bratwurst, from brät-, which is finely chopped meat (a sausage filled with a generic mixture based on various meats) and Wurst, meaning sausage, and Bratwurst, in German, also indicates the method of preparation, which is “braten”, meaning “roasted”.
Here follows the recipe for how to “stuff” them (if you don’t have a meat grinder you can have the butcher grind the meat for you).
Before being consumed, they are always boiled, then they can be cooked on the grill or in a pan, with beer, onions, or sauerkraut, or eaten between two slices of white bread as in the photo below (do not call them hot dogs!) or on dark bread, or baked, or smoked.
In the photo, those from Munich at the Oktoberfest in 2025, during our trip.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8 pieces
- Cooking methods: Grill, Boiling
- Cuisine: German
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1 pork casing
- 7 oz beef loin
- 12 oz pork shoulder
- 3.5 oz pork lard
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp marjoram (dried)
- 1 1/4 ginger (chopped)
- 1 tbsp chili
- 1 1/2 tbsp nutmeg
- 3.4 fl oz German beer (+ beer for grilling)
- to taste salt
Preparation
Refrigerate the pork shoulder, beef loin, and lard for about 30 minutes.
Take the lard and cold meat slice and place them in the meat grinder (electric or manual).
Season the minced meat with beer, garlic, salt, pepper, chili, marjoram, nutmeg, ginger, and mix everything manually.
Wrap with plastic wrap and put back in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Place the pork casing in cold water for about 30 minutes.
Extend one end and place it in the sausage stuffer, then place the nozzle next to the faucet, and let the water run into the casing to remove a bit of salt.
Insert a medium-sized funnel into the sausage stuffer and also one end of the rinsed casing. Wrap it around the funnel and tie the end. Insert the meat into the stuffer nozzle and stuff the casing with the meat by turning the stuffer wheel with one hand and holding the casing with the other. Once the entire casing is filled, tie the other end.
Place water and the Bratwurste in a large pot. Alternatively, you can use a mix of 50% water and 50% beer for an extra touch of flavor.
The Bratwurste should be grilled at medium temperature.
Cook them for a few minutes on each side. Do not forget to turn them a couple of times to ensure even cooking. Do not puncture them, otherwise, the juices of the meat will come out of the casing, and they will be too dry.
During cooking, brush them with water or beer to prevent them from burning.
Types of Bratwurst:
Types of Bratwurst:
Types of Bratwurst:
There are different types of Bratwurste, depending on the region, among the most famous are those from Nuremberg: small and thin, with a length between 3 and 3.5 inches, based on pork, seasoned with marjoram, and grilled over beech wood. They are served in groups of six, eight, ten, or twelve on a tin plate, with sauerkraut or potato salad, and accompanied by horseradish or mustard.
There are different types of Bratwurste, depending on the region, among the most famous are those from Nuremberg: small and thin, with a length between 3 and 3.5 inches, based on pork, seasoned with marjoram, and grilled over beech wood. They are served in groups of six, eight, ten, or twelve on a tin plate, with sauerkraut or potato salad, and accompanied by horseradish or mustard.
And the Würzburger Bratwurste, also known as Winzerbratwurste, produced in the city of Würzburg, in Franconia. They are 6-8 inches long, seasoned with white wine and of light color.
And the Würzburger Bratwurste, also known as Winzerbratwurste, produced in the city of Würzburg, in Franconia. They are 6-8 inches long, seasoned with white wine and of light color.
