Pale veal-and-pork sausage from St. Gallen, grilled and served with sharp mustard on a Buerli bread roll. Zurich's standard street-side snack.

The St. Galler Bratwurst, also called the Olma Bratwurst, was protected as a regional speciality in 2008 with a PGI designation. It is a veal sausage with a smaller amount of pork, traditionally eaten on its own with no mustard in St. Gallen, but in Zurich the grill culture insists on sharp mustard and a crisp Buerli bread roll. Sternen Grill on Bellevue, opened in 1963, made it the canonical Zurich late-night sausage with its devilishly sharp Sternen Senf. The sausage casing must be pale and the interior pinkish-grey; coloured or overly meaty is incorrect.

Where to eat St. Galler Bratwurst in Zurich

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Make it at home

Serves 420 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 4 St. Galler Bratwurst (about 130g each, sold in Swiss-import or German butcher shops; or substitute pale German bratwurst, Bavarian weisswurst, or French boudin blanc, which all share the milky-pale veal-and-pork structure)
  • 4 Buerli bread rolls (Swiss crusty white bread rolls; substitute small crusty Italian-style rolls or French petit pain)
  • 60g good sharp Swiss mustard (Sternen Senf style: hot brown mustard with a vinegar lift)
  • Optional: 1 large yellow onion, sliced and slow-fried in 2 tbsp butter until deep gold for 15 minutes (zwiebelsauce-style topping)
  • Optional: 200ml beef stock and 1 tbsp cornflour for onion sauce

Method

  1. Score the sausage casings with a sharp knife in 4 or 5 places along their length, very shallowly, so they will not split as they grill.
  2. Heat a heavy cast-iron pan or a charcoal grill to medium-hot. The bratwurst should never go on a screaming-hot grill; the casing splits and the centre stays raw.
  3. Grill the sausages 4 to 5 minutes per side, turning twice, until the outside is golden brown with darker char marks and the centre is hot through. Internal temperature should reach 72 degrees Celsius.
  4. While the sausages cook, slice each Buerli roll partly open lengthways, leaving a hinge.
  5. If making the optional onion sauce: deglaze the slow-fried onions with the beef stock, reduce by half, whisk in cornflour slurry, simmer 3 minutes to a glossy gravy.
  6. Lay a hot bratwurst into each split Buerli (or onto each plate). Pipe a generous line of mustard down the centre of the sausage (Swiss convention: never spread the mustard inside the roll). The onion sauce, if used, goes alongside, not over.
  7. Eat from the hand, walking the Limmatquai or standing at the Sternen Grill counter.

Editor tip. The mustard is the dish: a sweet German-style senf is wrong. Source a sharp Swiss or German hot brown mustard. The bratwurst should be cooked just hot in the centre, never overdone; if it splits, the heat was too high.

Common allergens: Gluten, Mustard.