Is the Knackwurst a Separate Type of Sausage?

The term Knackwurst does not refer to a specific type of sausage. Knackwurst are regionally different types of sausage, all of which are characterized by the cracking sound that their skin makes when you bite into them.

In northern and eastern Germany, Knackwurst is mostly thin raw sausages made from seasoned, coarse pork fat, which are made durable by light smoking and drying. Knacker variants made from ground beef or mixed mince are also common.

In southern Germany, but also in Austria, a Knackwurst is defined differently. Here, this type of sausage is understood to be a boiled sausage made from fine sausage meat, similar to the Wiener or Frankfurter sausage. The local crackers are usually shorter and thicker than the North German Knackwurst. In northern and eastern Germany, the term bockwurst is also common for this type of sausage.

There is a special form of Knackwurst in the Austrian Vorarlberg. There, a local variant of the Cervelatwurst is called a Knackwurst. It is not related to the Italian cervelat sausage, which is mainly eaten as a cold cut.