MARKETS : Wurst of the Valley

Atlas Sausage Kitchen, 10626 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood; (818) 763-2692. Open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Located in an industrial neighborhood with more than its share of automotive repair shops is the improbably genteel Old-World boutique called Atlas Sausage Kitchen, in business for 50 years. Here you’ll find expertly crafted Bavarian sausages and smoked meats prepared on the premises.

Atlas’ pristine white building is adorned on the outside with scenes of Wursthandlers at their sausage-making tasks, painted in someone’s idea of neo-Gothic German style. Inside, though, the store is as unassuming as the neighborhood. Plain shelves on plain walls hold scores of mustards and dozens of rye breads. The enormous collection of German beers, hidden away in a nondescript cooler, could easily be overlooked.

A deceptively modest display of sausages and unsliced cold cuts occupies several utilitarian butcher cases. Only the faint, delicious aroma of smoky meat provides a clue to the pedigree of this sausage-maker’s wares. Look closer and you’ll see at least six types of Bavarian-style white sausage and such unusual specialties as Regensburger Handwurst and Pfalzerwurst. The smoked Black Forest ham is a solid chunk of lean meat with a rim of fat the thickness of a rubber band.

Many of Atlas’ customers who have been shopping here for decades travel from as far away as San Diego and Bakersfield. On weekends there’s always a lively crowd munching on sandwiches and joking with Michael Obermayer, the shop’s proprietor. With his white hair and mustache, clear blue eyes and husky stature, Obermayer could have been snatched from a travel poster of Munich’s Oktoberfest. He’s been the sausage maker here for over 14 years, and a year ago he bought the business from his former employer.

Obermayer is one of the few remaining sausage makers in California to use old-fashioned methods taught in Bavaria--the region that is to German sausages what Napa is to California wine. He did his apprenticeship through Bavaria’s Harvard of meat schools, the Erste Bayerische Fleischerschule. “The work is so tough and the hours are so long,” he says, “that if you can get through, you can survive anything.”

After several years as a journeyman in Munich shops, Obermayer came to the States and ended up working in Chicago for Carl (the Bratwurst King) Maass. He did a variety of jobs in the meat trades until Atlas’ previous owner, who’d heard of him through the German sausage-makers’ grapevine, asked him to run the shop.

Obermayer contends it’s old-fashioned methods that give his sausages character. “There’s nothing like getting the best meat, trimming it down by hand and balancing the seasonings yourself,” says this holdout of old-time Bavarian sausage making.

SHOPPING LIST

WHITE SAUSAGES

From Munchener Weisswurst to Nurnberger Bratwurst, each of these sausages originated in a different town. They contain no nitrates, so plan on eating them within a day or two of bringing them home.

* Munchener Weisswurst: Liberally flavored with minced parsley and a bit of mace, this creamy veal sausage is the most delicate of the white sausages. In the days before refrigeration, purists would say: “If you hear the glockenspiel at noon before you take your first bite, the sausage will be past its prime.”

A good deal of tradition and ritual is associated with its consumption. Working people buy it at stands or shops to eat with thick warm pretzels at Brotzeit, or bread time, the customary midmorning snack. In restaurants, Weisswurst comes to the table bobbing around in hot water in a large tureen, patterned in blue and white--the colors of Bavaria. Diners take one sausage at a time and with a sharp knife slit the casing lengthwise to remove the sausage. The casing is edible, though, and many people prefer grilling these wursts and eating them casings and all.

Sweet, whole-grain Bavarian-style mustard is streng obligatorisch with Weisswurst, and Atlas carries the fine Robert Berkhardt mustard from the Wasserburg Inn outside Munich. Weisswurst ‘s traditional accompaniment, Weissbier, is a light brew made from wheat with extra yeast. It’s considered the Champagne of beers and is always served in a tall glass flute with a slice of lemon or a splash of raspberry syrup.

Like most precooked fresh sausages, Weisswurst should be simmered in water, never boiled, until it’s heated through. Longer cooking will leach out its delicate flavor.

* Swiss bratwurst: This has the same thick 8-inch-long shape as Weisswurst, but is slightly firmer, with a texture that’s entirely smooth. It has a mellow, faintly sweet flavor from the mace, nutmeg, onion and mustard in its seasonings. Any kind of tart mustard is this wurst’s preferred accompaniment. Some like Swiss bratwurst steamed over sauerkraut. A good choice is the bulk-pack kraut, braised in Rhine wine, which is sold at Atlas.

* Kalbsbratwurstchen: The smooth grain and seasonings of these veal links are almost identical to Swiss bratwursts, but the difference in their size makes them seem like entirely different sausages. With proportionately more casing to meat than larger sausages, thumb-sized kalbsbratwurstchen are especially appealing if you love the crunch of biting through casings. The links make an excellent breakfast sausage and are a fine meal with the German-style potato salad made at the shop.

* Geschwollene: It got its name (“swollen up”) because it tends to puff like a ballpark frank when it’s cooked. Other names for the smooth and fluffy veal sausage are Wollwurste , because of its soft wool-like texture, and nackte , or “naked one,” because it is skinless. Geschwollene is always recommended for children or people with delicate stomachs since it’s easily digested.

Typically, the sausage is dusted with flour and pan-fried with a little butter until golden brown. Obermayer says his California customers have taken eating nackte wrapped in a flour tortilla and calling it “the naked Bavarian in a Mexican blanket.”

* Nurnberger bratwurst: Another sausage sold at stands, the long, thin Nuremburg-style bratwurst often turns up at fairs and outdoor festivals where it’s eaten tucked into a Semmel, or bread roll. It has a rough-hewn texture and a distinct marjoram flavor.

* Thuringer bratwurst: The name of this white sausage means “fry-wurst from Thuringia,” but it’s grilled and sold at street-side stands all over Germany. It’s a hefty, fresh ground pork sausage, about a foot long and almost 2 inches in girth, flavored with a multitude of seasonings that include ground coriander and marjoram. It’s often barbecued over coals, and in Thuringia they sprinkle the grilling sausages with cold water to make the skins crisp. Thuringer goes well with hot German potato salad, white cabbage cooked with caraway seeds or braised red cabbage. Atlas also makes a smoked Thuringer bratwurst and a chicken Thuringer bratwurst.

* Western Griller: A large coarse bratwurst of veal with highly seasoned ground pork mixed into it, Western griller is ideal for the barbecue. Plenty of marjoram and white pepper give this wurst its particular zing.

SMOKED SAUSAGES

* Grobe Mettwurst: This mahogany-colored, salami-like sausage is the heartiest of all the regional Mettwurst styles. It has been smoked over sawdust mixed with herbs and seasonings. Mett indicates the presence of a sweet syrup or honey in the ingredients, though what you notice most is the sausage’s deep smoky flavor; the sweetness is barely discernible. Sliced thinly, Mettwurst is popular on crackers or small squares of light rye bread. It’s a keeping sausage, and many customers like to age it in the refrigerator to intensify its flavor. If you try this, wrap the sausage very loosely in waxed paper; it will not age well in plastic wrap.

* Teewurst: Another regional style of Mettwurst. It’s soft and spreadable and shaped like a miniature salami. Its name means tea sausage--not because it contains tea, but because it’s spread on crackers at tea. It’s flavored with a complex array of seasonings that includes rum, honey and raspberry syrup, which gives the wurst a slightly sweet-salty flavor.

BRUHWURST AND ROHWURST

Officially, Bruhwursts are lightly smoked sausages that have been cooked. The category embraces many varieties including knockwurst, Regensburgerwurst and even Jagdwurst, described below as cold cuts. Although smoked, these sausages aren’t air-dried and must be refrigerated until they are eaten. Rohwurst, on the other hand, are keeping sausages and have been air-dried in a cool room to reduce their moisture content.

* Regensburger Handwurst: From the city of Regensburg, once a Roman military outpost on the Danube, comes the distinctive lightly smoked and cooked wurst made of pork, veal and beef. Its hearty flavor comes from white pepper and lots of marjoram. The sausage maker stuffs the coarse meat mixture into wide casings and ties the sausage at intervals into a series of short stout links. For this Bohemian-style tying, as it is known, a twisted twine of the blue and white Bavarian colors is used.

The name Handwurst comes from the Bavarian custom of munching the sausage from one hand while munching bread or a Semmel from the other. But it is also one of the region’s most versatile cooking sausages. In the summer, Bavarian cooks make it into a refreshing wurst salad by cutting a peeled sausage into disks, topping it with thin white onion rings and sprinkling it with a mixture of vinegar, water and a little oil and pepper. Let the wurst salad marinate several hours before serving it.

To grill the Handwurst, leave the skins on and make small slanting incisions on each side. Saute them in an ungreased pan turning them constantly. Or cut them lengthwise, slit the skin side in several places and grill them flat-side down, then turn the sausage several times.

* Knockwurst: One of Germany’s most famous and versatile smoked sausages, knockwurst can be grilled, fried, boiled, steamed; used in soups and bean dishes; or simmered with cabbage or sauerkraut. Atlas’ knockwursts are impressively stout, about 7 inches or 8 inches long and about 2 inches wide (they look like small bolognas). Smooth and firm, they taste lightly of the smokehouse. Obermayer uses no garlic in these because, he says, that’s how many of his regular customers prefer it. Even so, they don’t lack for robust flavor. If you cook knockwurst in liquid or in a liquidy dish, allow them only to warm through. Further cooking will deplete their flavor.

* Pfalzer: From the Pfalz (Palatinate) area of southwestern Germany, this long, thin pork sausage has a chunky texture and slightly rosy color. It’s cured and smoked so it is firm with a potent meat flavor. Plenty of marjoram provides its distinctive taste. Grill or simmer Pfalzer with sauerkraut and serve it with mustard and small red potatoes in their jackets.

* Landjager: A smoked “soldier’s sausage,” once used by German field troops, Landjager hangs in pairs over racks at the back of the shop with the other Rohwursts. It’s easily identifiable by its flat shape, which results from pressing, then air-drying the sausages in special forms. Primarily beef, flavored with garlic and caraway in its seasonings, this wurst has a dense, salami-like texture and a tangy flavor from its curing process.

* Polish Kielbasa: Eighteen inches long and about two inches wide, these hefty cured and smoked sausages are flecked with pepper and have a wonderful aromatic garlic flavor. Their rough texture comes from chunks of pork mixed with a smoothly blended pork emulsion. Kielbasa is delicious cold and is also a versatile cooking sausage.

* Polish Kabanosi: You find these long, thin, smoked and cured pork sausage with a coarse texture and garlicky flavor dangling next to the Landjager. The long-keeping links are the ultimate picnic food; Poles often serve them cut into thick slices impaled with a wooden pick for appetizers.

* Hungarian Kolbasz: Atlas makes the garlicky pork sausage, flavored with sweet Hungarian paprika, in three versions: fresh, smoked (and slightly dried), and spicy (with cayenne pepper).

* Debrecener: From Debrecen, a town about 120 miles east of Budapest, the famous skinny Hungarian pork sausage was adapted by Austrians and later the Germans. It is smoked, air-cured and flavored with hot Hungarian paprika. Eat Debrecener with horseradish cold or warmed or use it in a mixed sausage plate with potatoes, kraut or cabbage.

COLD CUTS

The cold cuts made at Atlas include head cheeses, liverwursts, blood sausages, emulsified sausages such as bologna and textured sausages of hams embedded in a bologna-like background that look like mosaics.

Obermayer explains that the textured sausages are composed of two parts: the Bratt, which is a smooth mixture of rapidly chopped meat and seasonings, and the Einlage, or chunky part, which may be ham, pickled tongue or cured meat.

* Schinkenwurst: Schinken means ham, and that’s the Einlage of this large smoked cold cut. The ham chunks, about two-thirds of the total sausage, are held together by a Bratt of emulsified veal and beef. Atlas makes Schinkenwurst both with and without garlic.

* Jagdwurst: Also called hunter’s sausage, it’s another mosaic-like cold cut in which an Einlage of lean cured pork is held together with a Bratt of beef and pork. It’s narrower than the Schinkenwurst and slices up into 2-inch by 3-inch ovals. Jagdwurst has many regional variations, and Atlas makes two styles, one with garlic and one without.

* Tyroler: A spicier regional variation of Schinkenwurst, Tyroler contains lean, cured pork chunks held together with a Bratt of garlicky beef and veal, lightly studded with coarse black pepper. The pink Einlage contrasting with the deeper-colored background gives Tyroler its distinctive terrazzo-like pattern. As tradition dictates, this sausage comes cased in black.

* Ansbacher Pressack: From the town of Ansbach in west-central Bavaria comes this large round cold cut, consisting of large chunks of cooked cured tongue in a background of veal and pork flavored with caraway.

* Blood Tongue: Composed of large pieces of pickled tongue suspended in a blood sausage mixture, blood tongue appeals to lovers of “black” sausage. Its tile pattern, when sliced ultra-thin, is a beautiful rose against maroon. It’s delicious with just a little mustard. Try it on the hearty sourdough rye from Dimpflmeiers of Canada, sold in the shop.

* Gelbwurst: Yellow sausage is what the name means, and though this smooth, emulsified sausage, with a texture similar to good bologna, does have a pale-cream color, it actually gets its name from the fact that its traditional casing is always yellow. Made primarily of veal, with very little salt and no nitrates, Gelbwurst is easy to digest and favored by weight watchers. Horseradish is the preferred condiment, and the rather bland sausage is the perfect foil for it.

* Bologna and Decora : Atlas makes a pale rosy veal bologna that glides like silk over the tongue. Its texture is almost airy. Decora is the same bologna flecked with mixed herbs that include thyme, basil, and marjoram.

* Leberkase and Loaf-Type Cold Cuts: Leberkase, once a Southern German specialty and now beloved all over the country, is favored for Brotzeit , when it is eaten hot from the oven along with pretzels, mustard and beer. Not really a sausage, Leberkase and the other cold cuts in this section are packed into pans and baked. Its name, literally “liver cheese,” derives from the days when it was made with liver. But nowadays no liver is used. A smooth mixture of veal, pork and beef, it must be made with well-trimmed, sinewless lean meats. The shop prepares regular and non-nitrate Leberkase.

* Marjoram loaf: Leberkase with coarse pork mixed into it is flecked with crushed marjoram.

* Pepper Loaf: Also has coarse pork added to the mixture, which gives it a marble-like appearance. A layer of crushed black pepper on the top imparts a delicious zing.

* Liverwurst: “There are at least 80 kinds of liverwurst,” Obermeyer tells me as he rattles off a few of their names. Some are made with tomato, truffles or lightly cured anchovies. If you’ve only tasted the mass-produced variety, the liverwurst Atlas makes may change your notion of this cold cut. Germans liken fine liverwurst to French pate , especially when it’s blended with a little Cognac and served with crackers.

* Streich liverwurst: Meaning spreadable liverwurst, this is the liverwurst Obermayer makes at Atlas. The regular Streich liverwurst is a slightly chunky blend of cooked and chopped cured meat freckled with pepper and lovage, known in German as Liebestockl. Country-style or Bauernleberwurst, the coarsest Streich liverwurst, is spiced with nutmeg and crushed marjoram. It’s the style German farm women made at home when the pigs were killed.

* Sahne Alpenkrauter liverwurst: It’s smooth-textured and blended with cream and mountain-grown Alpine herbs; indeed, Sahne means cream.

* Onion liverwurst, with the same chunky texture as regular Streich liverwurst, tastes of sweet, long-cooked onions and coarse black pepper.

HAM

Sirloin tip is what Obermayer uses for his Black Forest ham, and there’s not a trace of fat or sinew on it apart from the thin outer fat covering. The ham is completely cooked in the smokehouse, which imparts a deep smoky flavor. The Burgundy Ham, on the other hand, is smoked only a few hours after being cured with a brine that contains Burgundy wine. Westphalian ham is dry-cured and smoked--it is Germany’s answer to prosciutto.

RECIPES

Simple but spectacular, these sausage recipes come from sausage maker Bruce Aidells ‘ book “Hot Links and Country Flavors, Sausages in American Regional Cooking.”

Use a mild - flavored sausage such as smoked bratwurst, smoked Polish kielbasa or Regensburger Handwurst.

POTATO, SAUSAGE AND LEEK GRATIN

4 cups diced unpeeled red potatoes

1 cup finely chopped leeks, white part only

1/2 cup finely chopped green onions

Salt, pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons flour

1/2 pound chopped smoked sausage

Milk

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup butter, cut in small pieces

Chopped chives

Spread 1/2 potatoes, leeks and green onions in bottom of buttered casserole or baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and 1 1/2 tablespoons flour. Add sausage, then spread remaining potatoes, leeks and green onions on top. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining flour. Pour over enough milk just to cover mixture. Sprinkle bread crumbs over top. Dot with butter.

Cover and bake at 375 degrees until potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. Remove cover, and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until top is brown. Sprinkle with chopped chives just before serving. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

GERMAN WHITE BEAN SOUP

1/2 pound Great Northern beans or other dried white beans, soaked overnight and drained

2 bay leaves

1 cup chopped parsley

2 quarts chicken stock or unsalted chicken broth

1 carrot, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

1/2 small head cabbage, finely chopped

2 leeks, split, cleaned, and sliced

1/2 pound fresh bratwurst or fresh Polish kielbasa

1/2 pound smoked kielbasa or Pfaelzer wurst, sliced

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Salt, pepper

Combine beans, bay leaves, 3/4 cup chopped parsley and chicken stock in large soup pot or Dutch oven. Cook 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until beans are tender but still whole. Add carrot, cabbage and leeks and cook 15 minutes longer.

Fry fresh bratwurst in skillet to stiffen sausage and render some fat. Cool briefly and slice into 3/4-inch thick rounds. Add fried bratwurst and smoked kielbasa to beans with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer about 15 minutes or until some beans begin to break up.

Serve in bowls, garnished with remaining parsley. Makes 8 servings.