Carniolan sausage

Kranjska klobasa (German: Krainer Wurst) is a Slovene national meat dish. It contains at least 68% of pork meat, 12% of cow meat and at the most 20% of bacon. Allowed additives are 5% of water, table salt, garlic and pepper. Other components aren't allowed. Meat must be cut in pieces 10 to 13 mm and bacon 8 to 10 mm. The filling is filled into pork intestine in diameter of 32 to 36 mm. They are formed in pairs length 12 to 16 cms. Weight of pairs is 180 to 220 gramms. Pairs are combined together with a wooden skewer. The sausages are hot smoked and thermally cultivated on the temperature around 70 degrees Celsius.

Variations and Preparation

The “Käsekrainer” (if you don't have the letter ä on your keyboard you can spell it also Kaesekrainer Kaesekrainer) is a variation of the Kranjska klobasa with small chunks of cheese. “Käsekrainer” consist in a variation to the original recipe of 10% to 20% cheese (e.g. Emmentaler) cut in small cubes.
“Käsekrainer” where invented in Austria in the early 1980s. Today they are a standard offer at the sausage stands (“Würstelstand”).
“Käsekrainer” can be boiled, backed or grilled. It is essential to keep them on a low to medium heat otherwise the outside is burned and the inside is still cold.
Be aware that the cheese get’s really hot while preparing, therefore cut or poke the sausage to release the pressure, otherwise hot cheese might be squeezed into your eyes!!!
The sausage can be served with curry on top; mustard, ketchup and a piece of dark bread or in the most common form in Austria as a “Käsekrainer-Hot-Dog”. By Hot Dog Austrians mean the bun not the sausage. The bread used is very similar to a French baguette, but shorter (9 to 10 inches long). The bun is cut open at one end and a hole is poked with a warm 1 inch in diameter metal piece. (Alternatively you can cut some of the bread out to get a hole in the bun.) The next step is to put the sauces in the empty bun. Austrians usually select out of the following three: sharp mustard, sweet mustard and ketchup. Often the combination of ketchup and one of the mustards is chosen. Don’t use too much sauce it might be squeezed out stuffing the sausage in the hole.

• “Käsekrainer” with mustard and a piece of dark bread
  “Käsekrainer” with mustard and a piece of dark bread
• “Käsekrainer-Hot-Dog”
  “Käsekrainer-Hot-Dog”

See also

• Kransky