This year, celebrate your heritage by adding traditional Luxembourg farmer sausage or Luxembourg treipen to your holiday menu.  

Luxembourg farmer sausage is a milder sausage that can be eaten uncooked or warmed as it is already fully cooked. The best provider of Luxembourg farmer sausage is Silver Creek Special Meats, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They label it as “Busch’s Luxemburg Sausage,” prepared using a traditional Luxembourgish recipe that belonged to a Luxembourg immigrant butcher in Chicago. Silver Creek Special Meats ships throughout the United States but they typically sell out at the holidays. 

To serve, cut farmer sausage into small pieces and serve on toothpicks with a good mustard. It can also be warmed in the oven and served as part of a meal. We recommend peeling off the thin, almost translucent outer casing before serving.  

If you’re feeling brave, add Luxembourgish treipen (traditional blood sausage) to your holiday menu. This hardy sausage, which our ancestors enjoyed during the winter months, is traditionally served with fried potatoes and apple sauce. While some are reluctant to eat blood sausage, it is quite tasty (and not as gross as you might think).   

Some of the most authentic Luxembourgish treipen is available at Schwai’s Meats, located at W3940 County Road H in Fredonia, near Belgium, Wisconsin. Schwai’s uses a traditional Luxembourgish recipe as prepared for generations in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. They also ship throughout the United States, but do not have a website. You must stop at the store or call (262) 692-2731.    

To properly cook treipen, poke the sausage with a fork, brown in a pan on the stove top for a few minutes, then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.    

“During my high school years, I worked at Noster’s Butcher Shop in Belgium where I helped make treipen,” said Kevin Wester. “I remember butcher Alex Noster saying, ‘Treipen’s got every part of the pig in it, except for its squeal.’”