Homemade Luncheon Meat (Frühstücksfleisch)
- Type
- Pre-cooked sausage
- Level
- Easy
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
In this post, I’ll show you how to make “Frühstücksfleisch”. It’s easy and super quick to make.
The literal translation is “breakfast meat” and is often eaten (you may have guessed it) for breakfast. This type is a German classic, similar to the American luncheon meat, SPAM®.
Note: This recipe is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Hormel Foods Corporation or their SPAM® brand. SPAM® is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods, LLC.
SPAM® was first introduced to the market in Minnesota in 1937.
At that time it was called Hormel Spiced Ham, which was later changed to SPAM® (an artificial word from Spiced Ham).
Incidentally, this name then became synonymous with unsolicited commercial e-mail worldwide as a result of a sketch by the Monty Python group.
So the sausage existed before e-mail spam.
Breakfast meat is minced and cured meat which is cooked in its own juice. Besides the jarred variety I’m showing you today, it’s often canned and is also called “canned meat”.
I have a complete recipe for your German Breakfast meat for you. You can either watch the video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it! I would be happy if you leave me a comment if it worked out for you.
Table of Contents
Breakfast meat – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| pork shoulder | 500 g | 50 % |
| pork belly | 350 g | 35 % |
| aspic (150 ml) You can either make it yourself (I'll show you how) or use gelatin according to package instructions | — | 15 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| raw onions | 100 g |
| salt | 17.5 g |
| honey | 5 g |
| white pepper | 3 g |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g |
| ginger | 0.5 g |
| marjoram | 0.5 g |
| cardamom | 0.3 g |
The equipment to make breakfast meat
You will need the meat grinder to “grind” the meat.
Jars
To fill the sausage you need jars.
Make homemade breakfast meat – Step-By-Step Instructions
Cut your meat into strips. The size varies depending on how big your meat grinder is. The bigger the grinder, the bigger your pieces of meat can be.
Put the meat in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help later on with the grinding process and the temperature.
Now grind the meat together with the onion. Depending on how coarse you want your final sausage meat, you can use different perforated discs.
I use the medium perforated disc (4.5 mm) and let ⅓ of the mass pass through twice. This way I have a nice mix of fine and coarser pieces. If you are used to a fine consistency then use the smallest plate and let it through twice.
Add the spices together with the honey and the aspic broth to the minced meat.
Info: You can make the aspic yourself with a store bought gelatin or if you want to make the aspic broth without powder, then I have a tutorial for you below.
Now mix the mixture with your hands for a few minutes until a nice binding is formed.
You can fill the mixture into jars. Which you use for this, is up to you. Make sure that the insides are clean and that there is enough space. The mass will rise a bit during the cooking process.
Cook the breakfast meat at 100 °C / 212 °F for about 2 hours. Let the jars cool down slowly afterwards. At the beginning the aspic will still be liquid. However, as soon as the jars have cooled down properly, it will be firm to the touch.
Your breakfast meat is ready 😄. Enjoy your homemade luncheon meat.
Frequently asked questions
What makes it a German breakfast meat?
What makes it a German breakfast meat?
The aspic. It goes into the mixture as a liquid, which is unusual for a sausage meat and is the whole point of this one: it sets inside the jar as the jars cool, so a slice comes out bound in its own jelly rather than pressed dry. Step 7 is where you watch it happen, still liquid when the jars come out of the pot and firm to the touch by the time they are cold.
The rest is ordinary German cold-cut work. Shoulder and belly in the proportions the list above gives, the onions ground in with the meat rather than stirred in afterwards, and marjoram, cardamom and ginger carrying the seasoning. It is eaten the way the name says, cold and on bread at breakfast, and it takes well to a pan if you would rather have it hot.
Is homemade breakfast meat the same thing as SPAM?
Is homemade breakfast meat the same thing as SPAM?
It belongs to the same family and it is not a copy of one. Frühstücksfleisch and the American canned luncheon meats are both minced, cured pork cooked in its own juice, which is why the one reads as the other on a shelf. What you make here is the German one, and you can see that in the grind: shoulder and belly through the medium disc with a third of the mass passed twice, so the slice still shows the meat instead of reading as one smooth block. The canned versions are finer and far more uniform than this.
The other difference is the jar. A can is sealed and cooked in a factory; here the jar does both jobs on your own stove, and the aspic sets in it as it cools. That decides how you eat it, too. You open one jar at a time and keep it in the fridge once it is open, rather than finishing a tin.
What is the shelf life of the breakfast meat?
What is the shelf life of the breakfast meat?
Keep the jars in the fridge and use the breakfast meat within 2–3 weeks. Once opened it needs to be stored in the fridge and will keep for about 4-5 days.
Make your own aspic
As mentioned above, you can make the broth using the package directions.
For aspic powder with 220 bloom, it is about 30 to 40 g per 100 ml. You can also add a little broth to the aspic powder to add flavor.
The alternative? Make it yourself…
I will soon present a more detailed version with pigs and calves feet. But it is very time-consuming.
For the quick version, here’s what I do:
Ingredients for a quick aspic broth for breakfast meat:
- 1 l water
- 500 g pork rind
- 1 dash of vinegar
- 10 peppercorns
- 3 allspice berries
- 5 juniper berries
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 onions
- 3 garlic cloves
1. Halve the onion and put it in a pot together with the pork rind and spices.
2. Add the water and cook it for 1-2 hours.
3. Once the rind is separable with a spoon, your broth is ready. You can now strain it and let it cool a bit and use it for breakfast meat.
looking for recipe for Bratenbrie breakfast meat and spices put into a loaf pan baked then sliced like meatloaf then fried and maple syrup served over itwas my grandmothers recipe from Germany ?
This sounds like a fusion :D. Never have heard or seen in Germany. I will look what I can find
Thank you Daniel, I am excited to try this! I have been experimenting with jarring meat and I love it!