Cervelat

Cervelat, also cervelas, servelat or zervelat, is a sausage produced in Switzerland, France (especially Alsace and Lyon) and parts of Germany. The recipe and preparation of the sausage vary regionally.

The sausages are called cervelas in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Cervelat in the German-speaking part, and servelat in the Italian-speaking part. The terms ultimately derive from cerebrum, the Latin word for brain, which was used in early recipes. The term "Cervelat" is the oldest of the three. It was first recorded in 1552 by Rabelais, and is derived from zervelada, a Milanese dialect word meaning a "large, short sausage filled with meat and pork brains." Modern recipes do not include brains, and arose towards the end of the 19th century in Basel, as a reworking of the traditional recipe.

The taste of the sausages depends on the region, but generally they are similar to that of a frankfurter, but with a smokier flavour and a texture brought about by its fat shape and the tightly wrapped natural casing. Various European semi-dry cervelat are similar to summer sausage in the U.S., and Thuringian sausage can be considered a type of cervelat.

In Switzerland, cervelats are cooked (slightly smoked and then boiled) or served raw. They contain a mixture of beef, bacon and pork rind. The modern Swiss variety is packed into zebu intestines.

The cervelat is often referred to as the national sausage of Switzerland. Some 160 million cervelats weighing 27,000 metric tons are produced in Switzerland annually, which is equivalent to a consumption of 25 cervelats per person each year. Grilling cervelats over an open fire with the ends cut open so they expand like a butterfly's wings is a childhood memory for nearly every Swiss person; as a result, many Swiss are emotionally attached to the sausage. Swiss cervelats are made of roughly equal parts of beef, pork, bacon, pork rind and ice, which helps bind the ingredients, along with spices, curing salt and cutter additives. The ingredients are finely minced in a cutter, packed into beef intestines, smoked for an hour and then cooked by boiling for a short time. Processed and packaged varieties sold in Swiss supermarkets also contain nitrites and antioxidants. A cervelat may weigh from about 100 to 200 grams.

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