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Meat from Switzerland, Germany, Alsace

Landjäger

Beef or pork lean is minced with back fat, curing salt and spices such as caraway, pepper and coriander, stuffed in pairs into narrow pork casing and pressed flat. The links are fermented, cold-smoked or air-dried, and eaten raw as a hard, square-sided snack sausage.

Fully documentedMeat2 days – 3 days

Recipe

Landjäger, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: MarkusHagenlocher, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceAmounts are per kg of sausage mix in the recipe example of the Swiss Meat Federation's quality guidelines (2022).
Beef75 %Of the total mass in the Swiss recipe example[sff2022]
Pork back fat21 %[sff2022]
Nitrite curing salt20 g per kgEuropean curing salt, usually under 1 % nitrite. US pink curing salts (Prague powder, Cure No. 1 or No. 2) hold 6.25 % nitrite, so never use them at this amount[sff2022][wp-nitrite][wp-curing-salt][cfia-nitrite][bfr-nitrite]
Salt5 g per kgTotal salt is capped at 25 g per kg of raw mix[sff2022]
Red wine5 g per kg[sff2022]
Caraway, whole or cracked3 g per kg[sff2022]
Pepper, coriander and garlic1 g per kg each[sff2022]
Sugar, additives and starter culture (optional)Glucono-delta-lactone (E575) is allowed; a starter culture is not required[sff2022]
Startera starter culture is not required (Swiss guidelines)

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 3 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Lean meat is minced and the fat cut coarser so it shows in the slice

Step 1 of 6
Mince lean meat; cut the fat coarser
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The meat is chopped or bowl-cut; the back fat is cut less fine so it shows in the slice. Output: coarse sausage mix with visible fat.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Beef or pork lean is minced with back fat, curing salt and spices such as caraway, pepper and coriander, stuffed in pairs into narrow pork casing and pressed flat. The links are fermented, cold-smoked or air-dried, and eaten raw as a hard, square-sided snack sausage. Made in 6 steps over 2 days – 3 days. The longest step, press flat, takes 24 h – 2 days (German Wikipedia). Salt is up to 2.5 % (Schweizer Fleisch-Fachverband (SFF) 2022).

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 2 daysReported[wp-de]Press flat
Saltup to 2.5 %Reported[sff2022]Mix with curing salt and spices
AciditypH 4.8Reported[rivera2015]Ferment

What makes this one different

Landjäger is stuffed in pairs into narrow pork casing and pressed flat, which gives it its square shape. The Swiss guidelines class it as a firm raw sausage storable unchilled, unlike spreadable Mettwurst.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Appenzeller PantliAn angular pressed raw sausage of beef, pork and bacon from Appenzell, protected as an IGP.
  • Tiroler LandjägerNot pressed.

Safety

In one challenge study, beef and pork trim was inoculated with E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella and sprayed with 4.5 % lactic acid; the sausages were then fermented to pH 4.8, cold smoked and dried to water activity 0.88. Fermenting and drying cut the three pathogens by 3.94, 4.11 and 4.29 log, and by 7.83, 6.19 and 7.21 log over the whole study, which included 20 days of vacuum-packed storage at about 23 °C. The authors conclude that traditional processing may give about a 5 log reduction. That result belongs to that study's controlled process, with the acid spray and a starter culture, and it does not cover a home batch of the recipe here. The sausage is raw meat, and CDC says curing, drying or smoking alone does not consistently kill Trichinella worms. Oregon's rules for shops making dry sausage require certified trichina-free pork, a commercial starter, a pH test and a water-activity test on each batch, and a process shown to cut E. coli O157:H7 by 5 log. The curing salt in this recipe is the weak European kind. US pink curing salt is more than 6 times stronger in nitrite, and swallowing too much nitrite can cause methemoglobinemia, which starves the body of oxygen.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7 (inoculated at about 8 log CFU/g in one study; fermenting and drying cut it by 3.94 log); Listeria monocytogenes (same study; cut by 4.11 log); Salmonella (same study; cut by 4.29 log).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

German Wikipedia says the origin of Landjäger is assumed to lie in the Alemannic cultural area.

  1. [sff2022] Schweizer Fleisch-Fachverband (SFF) 2022, Qualitätsleitsätze für Fleisch und Fleischprodukte, Version 4 (Landjäger, p. 33)spec
  2. [leitsaetze2022] Deutsche Lebensmittelbuch-Kommission 2022, Leitsätze für Fleisch und Fleischerzeugnisse, BAnz AT 28.07.2022 B1, No. 2.4.1.1.14 (Landjäger)gov
  3. [rivera2015] Rivera-Reyes M., Campbell J.A., Cutter C.N. 2017, Pathogen reductions associated with traditional processing of landjäger, Food Control 73:768–774 (abstract)paper
  4. [wp-de] German Wikipedia, Landjäger (name history, and pressing and smoking times of the German version)wiki
  5. [wp-en] English Wikipedia, Landjäger (where it is made and eaten)wiki
  6. [cdc-trichinella] CDC, How to Prevent Trichinellosis (12 March 2024)gov
  7. [oha-sausage] Oregon Health Authority, Special Processes Guidance No. 2, Dry Fermented Sausage, HACCP checklist for operators (rev. 01/15)gov
  8. [cdc-nitrite] CDC 2002, Methemoglobinemia following unintentional ingestion of sodium nitrite, New York, 2002, MMWR 51(29)gov
  9. [wp-nitrite] Wikipedia, Sodium nitrite (nitrite share of European and US curing salt)wiki
  10. [wp-curing-salt] Wikipedia, Curing salt (Prague powder No. 1 and No. 2)wiki
  11. [cfia-nitrite] Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Preventive control recommendations on the use of nitrites in the curing of meat products (Prague powder at 6.25 % sodium nitrite)gov
  12. [bfr-nitrite] BgVV (now BfR), Verzehr von nitrit-/nitrat-gepökelten Fleischwaren, statement of 23 October 2001 (German curing salt set at 0.4–0.5 % sodium nitrite until EU Directive 95/2/EC)gov