Landjäger is a
semidried sausage traditionally made in
Southern Germany
Southern Germany (, ) is a region of Germany that includes the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, which includes the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia in present-day Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and the southern portion of Hesse ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
South Tyrol
South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
. It is popular as a
snack food
A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...
during activities such as
hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time.
"Hi ...
. It also has a history as soldier's food because it keeps without
refrigeration
Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...
and comes in single-meal portions. As a meal, landjäger sausage can be boiled and served with potatoes and fresh greens.
Name
According to the ''
Swiss German Dictionary'', the name ''Landjäger'' was possibly derived from the dialect expression ''lang tige(n)'' 'smoked for a long time, air-cured for a long time.' The humorous reinterpretation in the sense of 'mounted police' may be inspired by comparing the stiffness of sausages with the perceived military rigidity of a police officer. The Alsatian and French names for smoked air-cured sausage, ''Gendarm'' and ''gendarme'', are apparently translations of the folk-etymologized German name. "Jäger" should be remembered as a direct, simplified translation from German, meaning "hunter." This could explain the sausage's renewed popularity in the more northern and German-settled parts of the United States. Dedicated hunters consider landjägers as food for hunters taking game to carry on the traditions associated with a lifestyle from previous generations of hunters. A very similar semi-dried sausage known as ''
salamino cacciatore'' (translation: "hunter's sausage") is traditionally produced in Central and Northern Italy.
Ingredients
Landjäger sausages are made of roughly equal portions of
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...
and
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...
with
lard
Lard is a Quasi-solid, semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering (animal products), rendering the adipose tissue, fatty tissue of a domestic pig, pig. , sugar, red wine, and spices, such as
caraway
Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa.
Etymology
The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...
,
black pepper
Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...
,
coriander
Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae.
Most people perceive the ...
seed, and
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...
.
They are each in length, made into links of two. Before smoking and drying, they are pressed into a mold, which gives them their characteristic rectangular cross-section of about . Typically, a pair of Landjäger weighs about 100
g and contains about 516
kcal. In Austria, Landjäger is sometimes made using
horse meat
Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Europe and Asia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early ...
.
See also
*
Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
The Culinary Heritage of Switzerland (, , , ) is a multilingual online encyclopedia of traditional Swiss cuisine and produce
In American English, produce generally refers to wikt:fresh, fresh List of culinary fruits, fruits and Vegetable, ...
*
Animal production and consumption in Switzerland
*
Swiss sausages and cured meats
*
List of sausages
*
Salame ticinese and
Salsiz, other dried sausages from Switzerland
References
External links
*
Alsatian cuisine
German sausages
Swiss sausages
Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
Fermented sausages
{{germany-sausage-stub