Ingredients
Sausage
- 4cervelats
To serve
- bread, or Bürli rolls
- mustard
- pickled gherkins
- potato salad, optional
Directions
- Build a wood or charcoal fire and let it burn down to glowing embers. Cervelat over open flame chars before it heats through; embers are what you want.
- Cut each end of the sausage twice, crossways, about 3 cm deep, so each end splits into four points.
- Those cuts are the whole technique. As the sausage heats the points curl back and open like a flower, giving four browned faces per end instead of a smooth skin — this is why it is called a Fötzelcervelat, and children in Switzerland are taught the cut before they are taught anything else about a fire.
- Thread each sausage lengthwise onto a stick or a long fork, through the middle, not across.
- Hold it over the embers, turning steadily, for 8 to 12 minutes until the split ends are dark brown and curled and the middle is hot through.
- It is already cooked and smoked, so the fire is for browning and warmth, not cooking. Overdo it and the fat runs out and it goes dry.
- Do not prick the body of the sausage. The cut ends give the fat somewhere to go.
- Eat straight off the stick with bread and mustard.
Technique
- Embers, never flame.
- Cut both ends crossways and thread it lengthwise.
- Eight to twelve minutes. It is warming, not cooking.
Substitutions
- A grill pan or a domestic grill indoors, cut the same way.
- Sliced cold into a cervelat salad with cheese, onion and vinaigrette, which is the other national way to eat it.
- Any smoked pre-cooked sausage of similar size.
Variations
- Cervelatsalat — sliced with Gruyère, onion and a sharp dressing.
- Split, filled with cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled.
History
Switzerland’s most eaten sausage; a 2008 shortage of Brazilian cow-intestine casings caused a national scare dubbed the cervelat crisis.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cervelat?
Cervelat is a charcuterie & cured from Switzerland: the national sausage, cross-cut and grilled over campfires. Switzerland’s most eaten sausage; a 2008 shortage of Brazilian cow-intestine casings caused a national scare dubbed the cervelat crisis.
How long does Cervelat take to make?
Cervelat takes 5 min of preparation and 12 min of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Cervelat?
Yes, within limits. A grill pan or a domestic grill indoors, cut the same way. Sliced cold into a cervelat salad with cheese, onion and vinaigrette, which is the other national way to eat it. Any smoked pre-cooked sausage of similar size.
What is the most important thing to get right in Cervelat?
Those cuts are the whole technique. As the sausage heats the points curl back and open like a flower, giving four browned faces per end instead of a smooth skin — this is why it is called a Fötzelcervelat, and children in Switzerland are taught the cut before they are taught anything else about a fire.
