Sausage Wars

The nerve agent affair in Salisbury is beyond doubt one of the worst outrages of this type in Europe since WWII. Assuming it was Russian government instigated, then in my mind, today's announcement of a few diplomats being expelled is wholly inadequate. And Putin must have hurt himself rolling on the floor and laughing loudly.

And I blame Mrs May for her cowardly and hypocritical lack of action and her desire to find "her Falklands. Asking the EU for the support that they have offered, is being rejected as a sign of weakness by Titanium Therese and would, of course, put the final nail in the Brexit coffin.

The British Superpower Empire reigns on.

Over here people are just as concerned and I doubt many would have a problem with supporting total sanctions including moving the 2018 World Cup to any other European country outside Russia.

So in the absence of the UK's need for any help, we stick to other disputes. One of these was settled amicably a while back: The Käsekrainer War between Austria and Slovenia (wasn't there an incident in this general area about 104 years ago?)

It's all about the Austrian "Käsekrainer", a slightly smoked cooked sausage of coarse pork meat and containing 10-20% of cheese chunks (usually Emmenthaler). They can be fried, grilled or heated up in water to melt the cheese inside and avoid the use of additional fat or oil. Traditionally they should be eaten with mustard and freshly grated horseradish but in these modern times the variation served in a roll with a combination of mustard/ketchup/curry powder have become very popular.

They are not to be confused with the Berner-Würstl sausage, named after the Swiss city of Berne, which is a type of Frankfurter. (You can't buy a Frankfurter in Germany, they are called "Wiener" i.e. Viennese)  The Berner-Würstl is like the Käsekrainer, also filled with Emmenthaler but then wrapped in bacon and fried or grilled. I understand the UK has something similar but without cheese called "Pig in a Blanket". My son explained this to our local butcher last year after he had asked him what the bacon rolled sausages on display were. The butcher promptly wrapped one up for him, handed it over the counter and said it was a present for him to grill that night on the BBQ.

Well back to war. The Slovenians went to the EU to get the protected origin status for the word Krainer which comes from a town there named Krain. This would have meant the Austrians, who not long ago ruled all these parts in Austro-Hungarian Empire days, having to find a new name. After two months of negotiation, a compromise was found and Slovenia registered the name "Kranjska Klobasa" and Krainer can still be used anywhere else, including Lidl Germany on their packaged mini Käsekrainer which Angie happened to spot this week when in Memmingen. Not as good as the butcher's fresh sausages but adequate with chips and some freshly cooked kohlrabi in a light cream/creme fraiche sauce.

These three examples were left over but disappeared within an hour ....after Angie had gone to bed.