Make Your Own Landjäger – Perfect Brotzeitsnack

In this post, I’ll show you how to make landjäger yourself. They are relatively easy and quick to make.

Landjäger taste amazing and are awesome for a Brotzeit or even as a snack on a hike.

Important: Classically, Landjäger are cold-smoked. In addition to the classic sausage equipment, you also need a cold smoke generator.

Here you can find the complete Landjäger recipe as a video or to read through.

Have fun and good luck making it!

Making your own Landjäger – What do you need?

INGREDIENTS PER 1 KG 

• 35 % pork shoulder (350g)
• 35 % lean beef (350g)
• 30 % pork belly (300g)

SPICES PER KG OF MEAT

• 19.5 g Salt
• 2.5 g Cure #1
• 2 g sugar
• 2 g white pepper
• 1,5 g caraway seeds
• 1,5 g mustard seeds

Equipment for making Landjäger

Meat Grinder

You need a meat grinder to “grind” the meat. The meat is chopped into small chunks with it.

Spice grinder / mortar

To grind your spices, it is best to use a spice mill. Alternatively, a mortar is also suitable. Or you can use already ground spices. I recommend grinding them yourself.

Sausage filler / attachment for the meat grinder / hand filling funnel

You need this to get your meat mass into the casing. For starters, a filler attachment for your meat grinder or a hand filler funnel will work for this.

Natural casings

For filling your mass you need natural casings. 

Smoker

You need the smoker to smoke your Landjäger. 

Cold Smoke Generator and smoking flour 

The cold smoke generator burns for about 12 hours. This saves you to constantly refill the smoking flour. 

Making Landjäger- Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Cut your meat and back fat 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.

2. Put the meat in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help later on with the grinding process and the temperature.

3. Grind the spices WITHOUT the mustard seeds. If you want whole caraway seeds in the Landjäger, you can also leave them out. I prefer them ground up.

4. Now it’s time to grind the meat. Grind the meat through the medium perforated disc. 

5. Add the spices together with the mustard seeds to the meat. 

6. Now mix the mass with your hands for a few minutes until a nice binding is formed. 

7. You can now fill the mixture into casings. 

8. Twist off the filled Landjäger. The length you can decide for yourself. 

9. Since the Landjäger are traditionally rather square, we need to press them. There are special Landjäger presses for this purpose.

For the sake of simplicity, I recommend the following:

Place the Landjäger between two wood cutting boards. The cutting boards should be clean and uncoated.

10. Put some weight on the board with an object. The weight can vary here depending on the quantity. I used 5 bottles of 1.5l each. So ~7,5 kg. Leave them like this for 12 – 24 hours at room temperature 20 – 25 C° (67 – 77°F). 

11. Hang the Landjäger for an additional 12 – 24 hours at room temperature 20 – 25 C° (67 – 77°F) so that they can continue to mature and dry. 

12. You can now hang them in the smoker and cold smoke them. I did 3 runs here. One run means 12 hours of smoke and 12 hours of no smoke. The temperature should ideally be between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (59 – 68 °F).

13. Your Landjäger are ready😄. You can either eat them directly or let them ripen further in the basement < 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit). Depending on how firm you want them. Enjoy them. 

How long is the shelf life of the Landjäger

Your Landjäger can be stored vacuumed in the refrigerator for several months. You can also store them without vacuum in the refrigerator. Keep in mind, however, that they continue to dry there and thus become drier / harder.