Cervelat

{{Infobox food | name = Cervelat | name_lang = de | name_italics = true | image = Cervelas 2.jpg | caption = Two grilled cervelats with their ends cut open in the traditional Swiss manner | alternate_name = Cervelas, servelat | country = Switzerland, France (especially Alsace and Lyon), Belgium, Netherlands and parts of Germany | region = | national_cuisine = | type = Sausage | course = | served = | main_ingredient = Beef, bacon, and pork rinds | minor_ingredient = | variations = | serving_size = | calories = | protein = | fat = | carbohydrate = | glycemic_index = | similar_dish = }} [[File:Cervelat Sal.JPG|thumb|Cervelat cut in pieces typically used for Wurstsalat]] thumb|Cervelas ''à l'alsacienne'' with cheese and bacon '''Cervelat''', also '''cervelas''', '''servelat''' or '''zervelat''', is a sausage produced in Switzerland, France (especially Alsace and Lyon), Belgium, the Netherlands and parts of Germany. The recipe and preparation of the sausage vary regionally.

The sausages are spelled ''cervelas'' in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, ''Cervelat'' in the German-speaking part, and ''servelat'' in the Italian-speaking part. The terms ultimately derive from ''cerebrum'', the Latin word for brain, which was used in early recipes.<ref name=Swissinfo2007/><ref name=NYT2008/> The term "Cervelat" is the oldest of the three. It was first recorded in 1552 by Rabelais,<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 August 2016 |author=Julien Burri |title=Cervelas écervelé |url=https://www.letemps.ch/societe/cervelas-ecervele |archive-url= | website=Le Temps |language=fr}}</ref><ref>''Quart Livre'', p. [https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Rabelais_-_Gargantua_et_Pantagruel,_Tome_III_(Texte_transcrit_et_annot%C3%A9_par_Clouzot).djvu/26 26]–[https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ARabelais_-_Gargantua_et_Pantagruel%2C_Tome_III_(Texte_transcrit_et_annot%C3%A9_par_Clouzot).djvu/27 27]</ref> and is derived from ''zervelada'', a Milanese word meaning a "large, short sausage filled with meat and pork brains." Modern recipes do not include brains, and arose towards the end of the 19th century in Basel, as a reworking of the traditional recipe. In Germany, the sausage is sometimes also called "Lyoner" which comes from its perceived origin. In the federal state of Saarland, the "Lyoner" sausage is even considered a regional staple dish.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

The taste of the sausages depends on the region, but generally they are similar to that of a frankfurter, but with a smokier flavour and a texture brought about by its fat shape and the tightly wrapped natural casing. Various European semi-dry cervelat are similar to summer sausage in the U.S., and Thuringian sausage can be considered a type of cervelat. In the United States, the term ''Thuringer sausage'' is used for a type of cervelat, rather than Thuringian sausage in the European sense.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3uzSvCdVqYwC&dq=cervelat&pg=PA167 The Art of Making Fermented Sausages] by Stanley Marianski, Adam Marianski page 167</ref>

==Switzerland== [[File:Würste r.JPG|thumb|Cooked St. Galler bratwurst (left), schüblig (center), and cervelat (right)]]

In Switzerland, cervelats are cooked (slightly smoked and then boiled) or served "raw" (cold, having been cooked during initial manufacture). They contain a mixture of beef, bacon and pork rind.<ref name=Swissinfo2007>{{cite web|title=National sausage loses its skin|author=Matthew Allen|author-link= |date=June 13, 2007|website=Swissinfo|url=http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/search/Result.html?siteSect=882&ty=st&sid=7920819}}</ref> The modern Swiss variety is packed into zebu intestines.<ref name=NYT2008/>

The cervelat is often referred to as the national sausage of Switzerland.<ref name=NYT2008/> Some 160 million cervelats weighing 27,000 metric tons are produced in Switzerland annually, which is equivalent to a consumption of 25 sausages per person each year.<ref name=NYT2008/> Grilling cervelats over an open fire with the ends cut open so they expand like a butterfly's wings is a childhood memory for nearly every Swiss person;<ref name=NYT2008/><ref name=Swissinfo2008>{{cite web|title=The great sausage test|author=Matthew Allen|date=January 21, 2008|website=Swissinfo|url=http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/search/Result.html?siteSect=882&ty=st&sid=8646761}}</ref> as a result, many Swiss are emotionally attached to the sausage.<ref name=NYT2008/><ref name=Swissinfo2008/> Swiss cervelats are made of roughly equal parts of beef, pork, bacon, pork rind and ice, which helps bind the ingredients, along with spices, curing salt and cutter additives. The ingredients are finely minced in a cutter, packed into beef intestines, smoked for an hour and then cooked by boiling for a short time.<ref name=NYT2008>{{cite news|title=Swiss Sausage Fans Fret Over How to Save Their Skin|date=February 3, 2008|author=John Tagliabue|author-link=John Tagliabue|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/world/europe/03sausage.html}}</ref> Processed and packaged varieties sold in Swiss supermarkets also contain nitrites and antioxidants.<ref>Coop ''cervelas'' (2 x 100g) packaging, May 2010</ref> A cervelat may weigh from about 100 to 200 grams.{{Cn|date=August 2021}}

Swiss cervelats are prepared and eaten cooked or raw. They are boiled, grilled or fried. They can also be served uncooked, either in a salad or with bread and mustard.<ref name=Swissinfo2007/>

Sometimes sold smoked and uncooked, cervelat can be seasoned, salted and cold smoked for one day.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=akYLOTMdCSEC&dq=cervelat&pg=PA84 IFIS Dictionary of Food Science and Technology] by International Food Information Service page 84</ref>

===2008 casings shortage=== Traditionally, Swiss beef intestines were used for the casings, but towards the end of the 20th century, local cattle producers lost interest in cleaning and preparing them, so meat processors switched to Brazilian zebu intestines, which are not fatty and do not easily split open when roasted.<ref name=NYT2008/> However, beginning on 1 April 2006, the European Union banned the import of many animal parts from Brazil as a measure aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease. Among these were beef intestines.<ref name=Swissinfo2007/> Although Switzerland is not an EU member state, it is bound to observe European food protection laws through other treaty agreements.<ref name=NYT2008/> Hence, Swiss and German stockpiles of zebu intestines became very low by 2008, threatening production altogether, and causing some controversy in Switzerland.<ref name=Swissinfo2008b/> In January of that year, the Swiss meat industry announced that a national "cervelat task force" had failed in an exhaustive search for an acceptable alternative to zebu intestines.<ref name=Swissinfo2008b>{{cite web|title="Sausage task force" cannot help cervelat|author=Matthew Allen|date= January 15, 2008 |website=Swissinfo|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/-sausage-task-force--cannot-help-cervelat/51674}}</ref>

The ''New York Times'' noted that "the possible demise of cervelas visibly upset the Swiss, a normally even-tempered people."<ref name=NYT2008/> The cervelat production crisis was covered closely by the Swiss media and in a newspaper poll, 72% of those surveyed said the "''cervelas'', as they knew it, had to be saved."<ref name=NYT2008/> The cervelat crisis was brought up in a parliamentary debate wherein state councillor and president of the Swiss Meat Association, Rolf Büttiker, spoke of the national sausage's social significance, calling it a "cult sausage" and "the worker's steak".<ref>[http://www.parlament.ch/E/Suche/Pages/geschaefte.aspx?gesch_id=20073793 Interpellation no. 07.3793] on the Swiss Parliament website; see also [http://www.parlament.ch/ab/frameset/d/s/4802/264401/d_s_4802_264401_264405.htm the minutes].</ref> The Swiss government entered into negotiations with the EU to seek an exception for zebu intestines, and Swiss scientists were sent to Brazil hoping to show that the intestines posed no risk of transmitting mad cow disease.<ref name=NYT2008/>

By August 2008, most of the Swiss demand for bovine intestines had been met with imports from Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.<ref>swissinfo.ch, ''[http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news_digest/Cervelat_replacement_skins_go_international.html?cid=6867120 Cervelat replacement skins go international]'', 20 August 2008, retrieved 14 May 2009</ref>

==France== Cervelas de Lyon are a sausage specialty of Lyonnaise cuisine. They contain finely minced pork, and either truffles or pistachios. Sold uncooked, the sausage has to be boiled before it is eaten.<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/13329406@N00/119516772/in/photolist-byyb1-byybd-gua8o-QuUen-2GnrZZ-2GDFx4-2GDHQe-2GDJSP-2GHZiC-2ZQoeJ-4nBK8X-4tY5Lv-4u33JQ-4JbVJq-4K9zhJ-4N7ahu-5p9sZL-5R5ja1-5R5jpu-5RR8px-5ToAwU-6ESWsy-6P4pMs-6TfqMh-6V61QH-6Va5FE-6Va5HJ-7bDtYD-anTSkp-eFaCYp-aaHWPq-8gSUHh-8nkDXp-bX4nKJ-bX4myo-bX4mUw-bX4ojY-bX4n5W-bX4mmm-bX4nfw-bX4kZW-bX4o7E-bX4nr7-bX4oub-bX4nAm-bX4mK7-bX4m9s-bX4kEN-bX4kPY-9cAYjX-dFMRAt Flickr image of Cervela de Lyon]</ref><ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/14042130@N03/3883330012/in/photolist-6Va5HJ-aaHWPq-8gSUHh-8nkDXp-bX4nKJ-bX4nXu-bX4myo-bX4mUw-bX4ojY-bX4n5W-bX4mmm-bX4nfw-bX4kZW-bX4o7E-bX4nr7-bX4nAm-bX4mK7-bX4m9s-bX4kEN-bX4kPY Image of a French cervela, poached and containing pistachio, black peppercorn and fatback]</ref>

In Alsatian cuisine, ''cervelas d'Alsace'' are split open and served with cheese (gruyère) and bacon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://recettessimples.fr/news/cervelas-d-alsace|title=Cervelas d'Alsace|website=recettessimples.fr|access-date=2016-09-04}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Cervelat}} * {{Kulinarischeserbe.ch|182}}

Category:French sausages Category:German sausages Category:Swiss sausages Category:Culinary Heritage of Switzerland Category:National dishes Category:Cooked sausages