Knackwurst
Meat
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Knackwurst (also spelled knockwurst) is a short, plump, smoked German sausage of finely ground beef and pork seasoned with garlic and packed into a taut natural casing. Cured and lightly smoked, it is sold ready to heat — simmered, steamed or grilled until it gives the loud "knack" (snap) of its bursting skin that gives the sausage its name.
Picking a good onedrag
Fresh from the counter: taut, pink, smoky and garlickyOff: slimy, sour, grey-green or mouldy
Cold and sealedBuy itBuy it cold, keep it cold. Pregnant, 65 or over, or immunocompromised? The CDC says a deli sausage only reheated steaming hot, never cold from the pack.
The label and the packCold and sealed, the date now only days off
Casing and surfaceTaut, faintly moist from the pack, still clean
Colour along the linkEven colour, the cut face a shade duller
Smell at the endMilder, the garlic and smoke quieter, nothing sour