The everyday plate of South Tyrol: poached or simmered sausages served on a heap of warm sauerkraut, with mustard or grated horseradish and often a boiled potato or dark bread alongside. The kraut — Crauti or Sauerkraut, a recognised PAT in both provinces — is shredded white cabbage fermented sour, then warmed through with juniper, caraway and a little white wine in the Alpine manner. The sausages are typically the local Meraner Würstel or Vienna-style Würstel. It is honest, warming food, eaten in the Stube, at the Christmas market and at the mountain hut alike.
Sauerkraut is one of the oldest preserving traditions of the German-speaking Alps: in a place of long winters, fermenting the autumn cabbage harvest into sour kraut kept a vegetable on the table until spring. South Tyrol holds white cabbage and its kraut in high regard, and the local sausages — among them the Meraner Würstel and the smoked Kaminwurzen — are part of the same farmhouse larder. The pairing of boiled sausage with kraut is shared across the whole Tyrolean and Austro-German world rather than invented in any one place; the Alto Adige character lies in the juniper, caraway and wine that flavour the kraut. The kraut itself is a PAT, though the assembled plate carries no protected status.
The sausages are plump and juicy, snapping at the casing and mild against the sharp kraut. The kraut is tender but still has a little bite, clean and sour with a savoury backbone from the wine and fat it is cooked with; juniper gives it a faint resinous note and caraway a warm aniseed edge. Mustard or a stab of fresh horseradish cuts straight through the richness, and a floury boiled potato soaks up the juices. It is the balance of fatty sausage, sour cabbage and pungent condiment that makes the plate — rich without being heavy, sour without being thin.
The kraut is made by lacto-fermentation: salt drawn through shredded cabbage pulls out water and creates a brine in which lactic-acid bacteria thrive, souring the cabbage and preserving it while it stays submerged and airless. Warming the finished kraut with fat, wine and spices does not so much cook it as round it out — the acidity softens, and the juniper and caraway oils infuse the warm liquid. The sausages are gently poached, kept below a hard boil so the casings do not split and the fat and juices stay inside; a violent boil bursts them and leaches out flavour. Mustard and horseradish are served raw, their volatile pungency meant to lift the rich plate and dulled by cooking.
Variations
Within the region the sausage changes with the cook — Meraner Würstel, thin Vienna-style Würstel, or a Frankfurter — and a smoked sausage gives a heartier plate. The kraut may be cooked with diced speck or lard for richness, and some add a grated apple for a touch of sweetness. The dish runs along a continuum with the Bavarian and Swabian versions, where the kraut is sometimes thickened with a roux or weighted with bacon; the Alto Adige kraut keeps the juniper-and-wine accent. Speck dumplings or boiled potatoes are the usual side.
On the Palate
Where Würstel e Crauti sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min active + 40 min waiting
- 13 min
Rinse the sauerkraut briefly if very sour and squeeze out excess liquid.
- 25 min
Render a little lard or diced speck in a pot, then add the drained kraut and stir to coat.
- 33 min
Add a splash of white wine, a few juniper berries, caraway seeds and a bay leaf; pour in enough water or broth to barely moisten.
- 440 min
Cover and simmer gently for about 40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the kraut is tender and the flavours have melded.
Watch outSimmer the kraut low about forty minutes until tender and mellowed — this gentle warming rounds off the sharp acidity and infuses the juniper and caraway.
- 510 min
Meanwhile poach the sausages in barely-simmering water for 8–10 minutes; do not let it boil hard.
Watch outPoach the sausages in barely-trembling water, never a hard boil — a rolling boil splits the casings and the fat and juices leach out.
- 620 min
Boil the potatoes separately until tender.
- 74 min
Pile the warm kraut on plates, lay the sausages on top, and serve with mustard, grated horseradish and the boiled potatoes.
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