Aachener Weihnachts-Leberwurst

Appearance & taste

The liver sausage is spreadable at about 8 °C. Depending on its composition, it is light brownish to light pink. It is sold in natural casings, sterile casings or linen casings, or in jars and tin cans. Some variants are smoked.

According to the specification, it owes its distinctive flavour to the cream and the Christmas spice blend. The blend always contains at least two of the spices coriander, cardamom, pepper and ginger, and ingredients such as cranberries or anise may be added. The proportions of liver and lean meat meet the requirements that the German Guidelines for Meat and Meat Products set for top-quality liver sausages.

Production

The sausage consists of pork, pork liver, nitrite curing salt, braised onions, cream with at least 30 % fat and the spice blend. The fat used is rindless bacon, for example from belly, ham trimmings and chain meat. The liver is used fresh or frozen soon after slaughter, because otherwise bitter substances form. Following craft tradition, the bile ducts are removed by hand down to their branches so that no bitter substances get into the sausage.

The cream may only replace the water lost during cooking: after heating, the sausage may not contain more water than before, and added water is not allowed. All steps up to the product ready for sale take place in Aachen.

Origin & history

Aachen lies in a basin. According to the specification, its location, the protection of the city wall and its long history as an imperial palace encouraged an early guild-like sense of belonging among the producers, as did the Aachen dialect that is still spoken today. Craft businesses passed recipes and production methods down from generation to generation; Aachen’s butchers look back on a tradition of sausage-making of over 200 years.

The Christmas liver sausage has been made under its name for over 120 years. Each year the season begins with the first cut by the Lord Mayor in Aachen’s town hall. For over 40 years there has been a quality competition in Aachen in which trained judges assess the sausages according to the standards of the DLG. According to the specification, the sausage, like the Aachener Printe, is at the core of the city’s culinary identity; it is also sold at the Aachen Christmas market.