Mark’s Recipe Box

Utopenci (Czech Pickled Sausages)

Snacks & Small Plates6-8 sausages30 min, plus 5-7 days in the fridgeczech, sausage, pickled, pub-snack, make-ahead

Do this first

  1. Put the 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 cups vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp salt, 10 peppercorns, 5 allspice berries and 3 bay leaves in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.
  2. Turn off the heat. Leave the brine to cool completely. Do the prep while it cools.

Then prep

  • Wash a large glass jar (about 1 1/2 quarts) and its lid in hot soapy water and rinse well.
  • Slice the 2 onions into thin rings. Put them in a bowl.
  • Peel the casings off the sausages if they are tough.
  • Cut a deep slit down the length of each sausage. Do not cut all the way through.
  • Set out the mustard and hot peppers, if using.
  • Everything is ready. Wash the board and put the knife away.

Ingredients

  • 1 lbshort, fat, fully cooked pork sausages (knackwurst or thick natural-casing wieners; Czech špekáčky if you can find them)
  • 2 largeonions, sliced into thin rings
  • 1 1/2 cupswater
  • 1 1/2 cupswhite vinegar (5%)
  • 1 tbspsugar
  • 2 tspsalt
  • 10black peppercorns
  • 5allspice berries
  • 3bay leaves
  • optional2-4 pickled hot peppers, and 1 tbsp mustard for the slits

Steps

  1. Check the brine. It must be completely cool before it goes in the jar. If it is still warm, wait.
  2. Spread a little mustard inside each slit, if using.
  3. Stuff each slit with a few onion rings.
  4. Layer the sausages and the rest of the onion rings in the jar. Pack them snugly.
  5. Tuck in the hot peppers, if using.
  6. Pour the cooled brine over, spices included, until everything is covered. If you run short, top up with equal parts water and vinegar.
  7. Close the jar and refrigerate 5-7 days. They are edible after 3 days but better after a week.
  8. Serve cold with the pickled onions, rye bread and beer.

Notes

The name means drowned men. Use fully cooked sausages, keep the jar in the fridge the whole time, and eat within about 3 weeks of making. The brine is half vinegar because US vinegar is weaker than Czech vinegar. Untested. Written by Claude from the standard method, not from a tested source, and not yet cooked.

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