Several weeks ago, I asked the editor of this section if I could write the occasional column on locally made sausage. The day before I made my request, I had passed a sign outside a produce stand in north Asheville that read “FRESH SAUSAGE,” and nearly caused a multiple-car pileup trying to drive off the road and closer.
Now, I realize I take a risk by admitting this, but no matter: I like sausage. I really like sausage. And not just any sausage, mind you: I prefer the sight of glistening links piled behind a butcher’s case to their frozen counterpart, the kind of sausage sold on a Styrofoam tray.
Which is exactly what led me, a few weeks ago, to Bavarian Restaurant in Woodfin and the company of its owner, Dieter Homburg. Since opening Bavarian last year, Homburg has brought all the attention to detail, craft and freshness to sausage that his former countrymen in Germany might expect.
Each week, he fires up a smoker and flips the switch on the sausage stuffer. He minces choice, lean cuts of pork and turkey, blends them with spices, salt and a bottle or two of beer. He slips a gossamer length of pork casing onto his stuffer and guides the ingredients into it, twisting the casing as he goes along to create individual links. From the stuffer, some of the sausages go directly to the fridge for later frying; others go directly to a smoker that sits in a courtyard behind the restaurant. All told, he makes about 150 pounds a week.
For all the hard work, Homburg’s customers are rewarded with the taste of Germany. (Should you doubt it, at least one sausage per plate is served with a tiny German flag piercing its skin. The flag says “A Taste of Germany” right on it.)
Homburg is proud of his ingredients, but he becomes a little more circumspect if you press him for specifics. “For the garlic sausage, we use garlic,” he said. “For the cheese, we use cheddar cheese. For the curry sausage, we use curry.” A dash or more of cayenne goes into the hot sausage (which, be warned, is hot). And about those spices? “I can’t tell you,” he said, his crinkly blue eyes narrowing and hardening somewhat.
One ingredient that Homburg is uncompromising on is his salt. He is a believer in the power of Himalayan salt, a pinkish material said to contain all the materials needed for life (or something along those lines). “Years ago, we were saying, ‘Accent wakes up flavor,’” said Homburg. “Well, we know now that MSG is bad for us. But this salt is a natural flavor enhancer.” Mined from mountainous regions of Pakistan, the salt is reputed to have remained untouched for 250 million years.
But a good sausage is considerably more than the sum of its parts. It is also the reflection of careful handling. By Homburg’s measure, the way one cooks a sausage is nearly as important as its ingredients. For those who are inclined to souse their brats in beer or boil the dickens out of them, he suggests this: Instead, roll them lightly in flour and fry them over a medium-high flame until their skins char slightly and pop. The flour raises a delicate crust on the sausage and the high flame yields a tender casing. “That’s all you do,” he said.
And never, ever, poke holes in a good sausage. “The sausages you buy in the store have a lot of fat in them,” said Homburg. “Ours don’t, so if you start poking holes in them, you lose everything.”
Homburg is exactly the kind of guy you’d want making your sausage. For one, his kitchen is immaculate. His German accent doesn’t hurt, either, and neither does his convincing array of facial hair, which would look equally at home on a marine mammal.
Herr Homburg also has a mild and welcoming manner that seems to transport his restaurant from the side of busy Weaverville Highway to high on an Alpine slope, something that, by itself, even the best sausage has a hard time doing.
“First,” Homburg said, as my sausage plate was being prepared, “you should have a beer.” He flicked the tap-lever on his bar and poured a monumental glass of weissbier—German wheat beer—with a dense, rocky head. “Now that,” he said, “is how you serve a beer.”
The plate arrived a few minutes later, with three mighty links surrounded by herbed potatoes, warm sauerkraut and a spiced apple ring.
Both the cheese and the garlic sausage were superior, but the “traditional” brat was hands-down delicious, and so delicately seasoned that no one flavor came to the fore. There was one more sausage to try, the dry, smoked one called “landjäger,” which literally translates as “country hunter,” alluding to its rustic origins. Homburg hoisted a few of the dense links from a hanger and sliced them apart. Their texture was dense and buttery, the taste, a concentrated zing of smoke and spice.
“Put a link or two in your glove compartment,” he said. “They’ll keep a long time.”
I did, and they’re still there in case of emergency—though I might not wait that long.
Bavarian Restaurant is located at 332 Weaverville Highway in Woodfin, 1 mile north of exit 23 off I-26. The restaurant’s phone number is 645-8383. Sausage is also available for take-away.
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Sounds delicious. I, too, have a soft spot for sausage. Is Bavarian open for lunch or just dinner? Also, I am interested in what was touching the Pakistani salt 250 million years ago. |
 Jan 16, 2008 at |
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Here are Bavarian’s hours, pasted over from the restaurant’s website, http://www.bavariandining.com (something I should have included in the story). Lunch Sat and Sun 11am till 4pm - $12.99 As for the Pakistani salt, I’m guessing trilobites and perhaps something resembling today’s horseshoe crabs, though I’m no geology expert. |
 Jan 16, 2008 at |
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here is what i think !!!!!! Take your Brat to work today.” Bratmeisters at the Bavarian Restaurant German soul food Bratwash………………….1 Cooler How To Cook Bratwurst |
Jan 16, 2008 |
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We only cook with himalayan salt and here is why !!!!! |
Jan 16, 2008 |
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You omitted one part of the process. Take a look at where the sausage comes from at http://www.meat.org |
Jan 17, 2008 |
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Ahhh Stewart. Such a killjoy. |
 Jan 17, 2008 at |
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Sorry, Jason. :-) I just think that people should make informed decisions. |
Jan 18, 2008 |
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Try some good German sausage with hot mustard and perhaps a cold beer, Stewart, and your vegetarian days will be a thing of the past and you’ll say “thank you” with every succulent bite. |
 Jan 20, 2008 at |
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and, by the way, I have eaten at Dieter’s place several times… it’s wonderful! I highly recommend it. |
Jan 20, 2008 at |
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Wait a minute. Sausages come from animals?!? MR. Stewart, are you aware of how many animals are killed in the entire soy-making process, for example? Ever seen a mono-culture field of soy growing in the American Midwest (or in Asia)? LOTS and LOTS of animals (like mice, birds, etc) are killed during the harvesting of any Mono-culture grain or bean. Cute little baby mice with faces and er’thing. And for those that don’t want any politics in their food; Well, Eat up! I love some locally-produced Kraut on my Brats!! |
theAntiPeta Jan 20, 2008 |
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Here is another interesting link about why you should eat bratwurst, Mr. Stewart. http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtsoy.html http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtvegetarianism.html |
antipeta Jan 20, 2008 |
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antipeta, THANK YOU! ... I have seen the light! I will NEVER kill another soy bean! Bless you, bless you. |
Jan 20, 2008 at |
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Enjoy your heart disease and cancer! |
Jan 21, 2008 |
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The Weston A. Price Foundation is almost as bad as ActivistCash.com (which is a front to the Center for Consumer Freedom, and I’m not even going to go there…) when it comes to spreading misinformation. What next, are you going to start quoting beyondveg.com? Ugh. How about if you read your sources just a little more critically? |
Jan 22, 2008 |
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Stewart and Xvelouria, you two are just big old grumpy bears (and even bears eat grubs and honey)... this thread was totally inappropriate for your injected veggie evangelism. Why rain on sausage lovers’ parade? Very impolite. And, I might add, very off topic. The topic is ‘how good Dieter’s sausages are.’ Your twisted and way-out-of-the-majority beliefs were not solicited. Sausage is good. Grumpy bears should be hibernating this time of year, dreaming of grubs and honey to come in the Spring. |
Jan 22, 2008 at |
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Ralph, You are correct, we did get off topic. The topic was how sausage is made, and I mentioned that the article failed to discuss a part of the process. So I posted a video showing how the animals are tortured and murdered before they are ground up to make sausage. Take a look at http://www.meat.org. I never mentioned soybeans, yet that somehow prompted a ridiculous rant about them. Ridiculous not only because vegans don’t necessarily eat soy, but also because it was a complete fabrication. So many scientists have shown how eating meat destroys the environment; it’s really funny when someone makes such silly, unscientific statements to justify their craving for flesh. That was followed by some off-topic pseudoscience that encourages people to eat meat, which any properly trained medical professional will tell you is conclusively linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke, osteoporosis, diabetes, impotence, etc. You got off topic, too, with your silly comment about soybeans. So, let’s get back on topic. Otto von Bismark said, “Laws are like sausage, it’s better not to see them being made.” But, if you want to take a look, and you won’t go to a PETA site because of your closed mind, check out the photo and video galleries at http://www.factoryfarming.org. |
Jan 22, 2008 |
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Hey xvelouria, Great post. BTW, the website exposing the misnamed “Center for Consumer Freedom” is http://www.consumerdeception.com. |
Jan 22, 2008 |
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Stewart… you are still being a grumpy old bear ... the topic is about the ENJOYMENT of sausage, why do you want to essentially pooh-pooh in the woods? I know that’s what bears do but it is hardly civil. This topic is about good sausage, it is not about bear pooh pooh, you silly old pooh bear. Thank you. |
Jan 22, 2008 at |
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Ralph, The story talks about what goes into sausage, so my comments are relevant. The article also mentions the “hard work” involved in making sausage. You should read about the hard work (abuse) of the people working in the slaughterhouses. See I know that you have Empathy Deficit Disorder (EDD) when it comes to animals. I’m hoping you might have some compassion for people. Me, grumpy? Hardly. But I do speak up for those whose rights are violated, human or non-human. As did Dr. King. I suppose you’d also call him grumpy? |
Jan 22, 2008 |
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Pooh, you are off topic… we LIKES sausage! Why are you so fixated on this? Live your life as you like, just do NOT try to get between us and our knockwurst und bratwurst und frankfurters! Sie tragen große Alte Bär ... Bitte halten Sie Ihre Vegetarische Hände von unseren leckeren Wurst ... please. we LIKES sausage! |
Jan 22, 2008 at |
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I’d fight for your rights if someone was trying to kill you to satisfy their taste buds. As Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He also said “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Okay, now I agree I am off topic, and I’m done. |
Jan 22, 2008 |
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Stewart, you REALLY have a problem ... this is just a restaurant review, not a pulpit to evangelize the vegan way. I saw elsewhere that Steve asked you to stay on topic. If you have nothing positive to contribute on Dieter’s most excellent and satisfying wurst, then please to remain silent. My advice is to stop obsessing on food and take up knitting as a hobby… oh… are you against wool, too? Never mind, I do not want to know. Sausages are what we’re talking about here. POSITIVE comments on sausage. Thank you. |
Jan 23, 2008 at |
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Ralph, This is a review of a restaurant that serves sausage, the remains of slaughtered animals. In case you weren’t aware, some people are morally offended by the slaughter of animals. I don’t see how bringing that up is “off topic”; Steve asked Stewart to stay on topic in another thread about the Richmond Hill Inn, etc., where Stewart brought up the fact that those restaurants served foie gras (which I disagree is more necessary to address than animals slaughtered and sold in any other form, sausage, bacon, burgers, extending to dairy and eggs, but whatever). I think it’s completely relevant here. I don’t see why we’re limited to positive comments on sausage. I mean, if this were an article about sweatshops, would the comments be limited to positive comments on sweatshops? If this were an article about a restaurant that cooked and served human flesh (anybody here see Sweeney Todd? :D) would we be limited to positive comments about it? Heck, if somebody went to this restaurant and didn’t LIKE it, would they be barred from criticizing it on here?? |
Jan 23, 2008 |
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X, you can’t critize him for bad food… I’ve eaten there several times, the food is GREAT. And critizing him because of Vegan religious believes is not (pun as EVER intended) germaine to this issue. This was a joyful article and you guys try to ruin it with stupid veggie tricks. Excuse me, but I find that offensive. Chill out and leave the majority of us to enjoy our food. |
Jan 24, 2008 at |
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xvelouria and Ralph: Food moderating isn’t really my beat, but it seems relevant enough to mention the animal rights topic here, as long as it doesn’t become solely argumentative or derail the overall conversation. As has become my mantra on the subject of recent, however, I would request that if you want to talk exclusively about larger topics such as animal rights, and not so much about Bavarian Restaurant’s tasty sausages, please take it to the forums. I’ve started a thread about just this topic, which you can find here: |
 Jan 24, 2008 at |
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that’s good, Steve… I’ll let Stewart and X knock themselves out there while I go get a great bratwurst with spicy brown mustard. ... this taste trumps all their arguments. |
Jan 25, 2008 at |
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Okay, I’ll stick to the forums for now. At least there’s a somewhat logical discussion taking place (please stay away Ralph!). :) |
Jan 25, 2008 |
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I’m too busy eating real food, enjoying life to the fullets, and not obsessing to participate. Thank you. |
Jan 25, 2008 at |
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Hey- I can’t believe my veggie friends didn’t mention the fabulous vegan sausages (italian, kielbasa, etc.) that Tofurkey puts out. Had one today, as a matter of fact- with a yummy horseradish mustard we found at Amazing Savings. See- us miserable vegans get to enjoy sausages, too! 19 grams of protein, to boot :0) AND- they’re torture free! Yeah! |
Feb 03, 2008 |
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AshaKasha, how many soy beans died to make those veggie sausages? If you are against the torture of life for food, you should be COMPLETELY against it. Anything less is simply hypocrisy. NO MORE VEGECIDE! Eat meat. Thank you. Besides, I’ve tried vegan hot dogs and faux sausage several times—they all truly suck dirty brown dish water as to taste. NOTHING is worth that. |
Feb 04, 2008 at |
