Flönz

Appearance & taste

The sausage is reddish brown inside and out; the sausage mass is broken up by the white of the back fat pieces. It is soft but holds together when sliced. It contains pork, which is not visible, however, and visible pieces of back fat of 5 to 10 mm, which make up at most 25 to 30 % of the weight. Fresh Flönz contains 25 to 35 % fat.

It is filled into natural or artificial casings with a calibre of 30 to 65 mm. The sausages are circular in cross section and have the shape of a curved cylinder with sausage ends at both ends; they may also close into a ring. Flönz is sold fresh and smoked, in the casing as a whole sausage, in pieces or in slices in airtight packaging. It is not available in jars or cans.

Production

The ingredients are fresh bacon rinds, fresh or frozen pork back fat, pork, pig’s blood, nitrite curing salt and natural spices without flavourings or spice extracts; pig’s head meat, onions and meat stock may be added. Preserved back fat is not allowed: according to the specification, fresh or frozen back fat hinders the oxidation that would produce a rancid smell and taste during longer storage. All production steps take place in the area of origin.

Origin & history

The area covers Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bonn and other towns on the Rhine such as Leverkusen, Neuss and Dormagen, as well as the Rhein-Sieg district. Carnival is celebrated especially intensely here, and Flönz is part of it. According to the specification, it even unites Cologne and Düsseldorf, which occasionally pretend in jest to be enemies, in a shared culinary tradition. Unlike many black puddings from southern Germany, which are sold dried and hard as long-keeping sausage, Flönz is meant to be eaten as a fresh, soft sausage. In Cologne it is the main ingredient of traditional brewery-pub dishes such as “Kölsch Kaviar” and “Himmel un Äd”.

The word “Flönz” already existed in Cologne at the end of the 19th century. In 1947 the lyricist Jupp Schlösser and the composer Gerhard Jussenhoven joked in the song “Sag’ ens Blotwoosch” about how hard newcomers find the Cologne word “Blotwoosch” (black pudding), and suggested “Flönz” instead. Other songs, a play and carnival sessions later took up the word.