Meat salad made in the Thermomix® turns out more flavourful than the butcher’s version thanks to sauteed onions. We do not add the onion raw to the mix but sweat it for 3 minutes at Varoma temperature. That takes away the sharpness and rounds out the flavour.
We have made this recipe so many times that we can now judge by feel which speed gives the right texture. Speed 4 for 3 seconds, twice in a row, gives exactly the consistency we know from the deli counter. Speed 5 makes it too fine; speed 3 leaves pieces that are too large.
German Meat Salad with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 10 ✓
- 1 onion
- 10 g sunflower oil
- 300 g Lyoner sausage
- 150 g gherkins
- 100 g full-fat cream cheese
- 80 g remoulade
- 1 tsp medium-hot mustard
- 2 tsp mixed herbs frozen
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp hot paprika
Instructions 0 / 5
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1
Chop the onion.
Peel the onion, halve it, place it in the mixing bowl and chop for 5 sec / speed 5, then push down with the spatula.
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2
Sweat the onion.
Add the oil and sweat for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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3
Chop the sausage and gherkins.
Cut the Lyoner sausage and gherkins into pieces, add them to the mixing bowl, chop for 3 sec / speed 4, then push down with the spatula.
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4
Chop the sausage salad again.
Chop for a further 3 sec / speed 4 and push down with the spatula.
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5
Combine and serve.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix for 20 sec / reverse direction / speed 3. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Tip: If you have fresh herbs to hand, you can use those instead. Add them to the mixing bowl first, chop for 3 sec / speed 8, then add them in step 4.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why the onion is sweated first
Raw onions give meat salad a sharp bite that only intensifies after a few hours in the fridge. Sweating at Varoma temperature gently caramelises the sugars, almost completely removes the sharpness and leaves a mildly sweet flavour. That is the difference between a salad that becomes too pungent after two days and one that tastes consistent throughout.
3 minutes is the minimum time. Sweating for less does nothing; sweating for longer does no harm, but the effect stays the same.
Twice 3 seconds at speed 4 for the right texture
We chop the Lyoner sausage and gherkins in two passes. Once for 3 sec at speed 4, then push down with the spatula, then once more for 3 sec at speed 4. This gives an even texture with no large chunks remaining, while the salad still keeps some bite.
If you run it for 6 seconds in one go, the bottom layer becomes too fine while coarser pieces remain at the top. Scraping down in between ensures everything passes through the blades evenly.
Remoulade instead of mayonnaise makes the difference
Remoulade has more acidity and more seasoning than mayonnaise. That matters because Lyoner sausage and cream cheese are both very mild and rich. Without the acidity from the remoulade, the salad tastes one-dimensional.
We use 80 g of remoulade to 100 g of cream cheese. That ratio is not negotiable. Less remoulade makes the salad too rich; more makes it too sharp.
Reverse direction for the final mixing step
In the final step we add the cream cheese, remoulade, mustard, herbs, salt and paprika and mix for 20 sec on reverse direction / speed 3. The reverse direction prevents the already-chopped sausage and gherkin pieces from going through the blades again. Running in normal direction at this stage would turn everything to mush.
Speed 3 is strong enough to distribute the creamy ingredients evenly but gentle enough to keep the texture intact.
Fresh herbs as an alternative
If you have fresh herbs to hand, add them to the mixing bowl first, chop for 3 sec at speed 8 and then add them in the final mixing step. Frozen herbs can go straight in during the last step because they are already fine enough.
Parsley, chives or dill all work well. We usually use a ready-made frozen herb mix because it is always in the freezer.
How long it keeps and what happens after chilling
Meat salad keeps in the fridge for 3 days. The texture stays stable because Lyoner sausage does not release extra water. Gherkins are already brined and give off only minimal liquid.
After a day in the fridge the flavour deepens as the seasonings meld together. On the second day the salad often tastes better than when freshly made.
More Thermomix® spreads: Wild garlic pesto, Egg salad, Carrot spread.
What other recipes do differently
Goes well with: bread rolls and potato salad.
Most meat salad recipes online use raw onion, ready-made mayonnaise and Lyoner sausage alone. Cookidoo and Rezeptwelt use 250 g of Fleischwurst with mayo; Einfachkochen combines Bierschinken and Lyoner half and half with yoghurt to bulk it out. We sweat the onion in the mixing bowl at Varoma temperature, which is the key step that prevents the sharp bite on the second day. Instead of classic mayonnaise we use remoulade with cream cheese because the flavour profile suits the mild Lyoner better. Apple or pepper variations are left out on purpose. A classic stays a classic.
