Mett, a traditional German dish of raw minced pork, is often served on bread with simple accompaniments like onions, capers, and mustard. It can also be stuffed into a sausage or carved into a hedgehog shape. The German government regulates the freshness and safety of ground meats, including mett, which should be consumed on the same day as the pig’s death due to the high fat content. Other German dishes with raw meat include teewurst and teewurst-rugenwalder.
Many countries have traditional ways of eating raw meat, from sashimi from Japan to tartare of European origin. Lesser-known German preparations for raw meat involve mett, which is minced or ground pork. While traditionally served on bread and seasoned with salt, pepper, and perhaps some caraway seeds and nutmeg, this raw meat can also be stuffed into a sausage known as a mettwurst or carved into a cardboard hedgehog and served as a mettigel.
It’s unclear for how many generations the German people have consumed raw pork in these ways – a process also known as hackepeter in the northern part of the country. It has evolved in the 21st century, however, to the point where the government has instituted a Hackfleischverordnung. It is a regulatory body for ground meats that regulates and oversees the freshness and safety of mett and other foods eaten without cooking. According to several published sources, these preparations should be consumed on the same day as the pig’s death. This is particularly due to the high fat content of a pig which is particularly susceptible to bacterial outbreaks.
The traditional recipe and presentation of mett is quite simple. After the pork has been ground or minced, it is salted, peppered and perhaps seasoned with a few other ingredients such as nutmeg, marjoram, cumin seeds and onion powder. Once the ingredients are hand mixed through the pork, it is placed on a platter. Some top it off by creating a depression in the top of the mound of meat and cracking an egg into it.
The meat is served with simple accompaniments. The side plates may contain diced onions, capers or mustard. Another plate or basket might contain fresh bread or rolls, upon which the mett is spread. The meat is followed by the toppings.
Mett isn’t always served this way, though. Some cure the meat with traditional seasonings and then squeeze it into sausages that are also eaten raw, called mettwurst. Other German dishes that include raw meat that is eaten with bread are the teewurst and teewurst-rugenwalder varieties, which are also eaten on bread or crackers and combine raw ground pork and ground beef. The latter spreads, however, add more signature ingredients, such as ginger, cardamom and paprika, as well as a few days of controlled cold smoking and curing. Mett happens to be the only pork dish that should be eaten right after the pig has been butchered.
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