Knackwurst

The name knackwurst comes from the German verb knacken, to crack, referring to the sound the natural casing makes when bitten. The same term gave its name to the Alsatian knack, the saucisse de Strasbourg: the two products share an onomatopoeic root and a common Rhenish charcuterie tradition. Garlic, incorporated fresh and in notable proportion, is the spice that defines the character of the knackwurst and sets it apart from other German poached sausages.

The first textual mention of the knackwurst dates from 1575. Johann Fischart, a Strasbourg satirist, published his free German adaptation of Rabelais’s Gargantua (1534) that year, later known in later editions as Geschichtklitterung. Where Rabelais listed the regional sausages of France (Bigorre, Brenne, Longaulnay, Rouargue), Fischart substituted those of his own city, the knackwurst. The same text, carried from French into German some forty years apart, thus supplies the first known written attestation of the product.

Its short, stout format, its mixed pork-and-beef composition and its garlic seasoning make it a product distinct from the Frankfurter (elongated, pure pork, mild profile) and the bockwurst (elongated, pork and veal, chives). The proportion of beef contributes a darker colour and a more pronounced taste than those of its neighbours in the same family.

It is particularly present in northern Germany (Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein), where it has appeared on street markets and popular buffets since the nineteenth century. In Alsace, it is found in choucroute garnie alongside the saucisse de Strasbourg and the saucisse de Montbéliard.

The German emigration of the nineteenth century introduced it to the United States, where it took root in the German-American communities of the Midwest (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio). There it is commonly spelt knockwurst or called knoblauchwurst, garlic sausage. Artisanal butchers of those regions still make it into recipes handed down from generation to generation.