The number one Munich food specialty (if you don’t count beer as food, as most Bavarians do) is the Weisswurst sausage. The legends about how and why the Weisswurst was invented and how come it has risen to such popularity differ from source to source. There is some agreement however on who, when and where made the first Weisswurst. Inn-keeper Sepp Moser invented it on February 22, 1857 in his “Zum Ewigen Licht” at the Marienplatz in Munich.
Loved by some and loathed by others, Weisswurst is traditionally accompanied by pretzels, sweet wholegrain mustard and a freshly poured wheat beer for the ultimate late breakfast or brunch. Once plucked from the steaming tureen of hot water they are served in, the finely flavoured filling of the Weisswurst must be removed from the casing. According to Weisswurst aficionados, there are only two correct ways to do this.
Either cut the sausage open along its length with a knife and peel off the skin (boring but practical), or hold the sausage with your fingers and gently bite into the end of it without breaking the casing. Now draw it out between your closed teeth to retrieve the meaty mixture from the skin. Sounds complicated? It is. It takes practice and there’s even a special verb to describe how it’s done properly (“zuzeln”, pronounced “zootseln”). We were going to post some videos of people zuzling some Weisswurst the way it should be done, but we kind of lost appetite for that idea after we’ve seen them.
There are websites and clubs dedicated to the Weisswurst. It’s been the subject of parliamentary debate and there have even been calls to found a Weisswurst museum.
Another thing to know about the Weisswurst is that it is usually only eaten until noon. The tradition of eating Weißwurst in the morning has continued until the present day. Even when it is nowadays nearly always only produced as a “Brühwurst” (already boiled sausage) and subject to a strictly controlled cooling process, this tradition has continued in Bavaria. Locals predominantly agree that Munich’s best Weisswurst comes from one of these butchers: Magnus Bauch, Thalkirchnerstr. 63; Boneberger, Großhaderner Str. 6; Frank Burr, Görresstr. 15; Gaßner, Zenettistr. 11; Jais, Bajuwarenstr. 22; Roland Kuffler GmbH, Astallerstr. 13; Hermann Schäbitz, Nestroystr. 13; Georg Schlagbauer, Müllerstr. 25; Konrad Sedlmeir, Pfanzeltplatz 14, Ignaz Vogl, Steinstr. 61; Josef Zimmermann, Erlbachstr. 3
