Frankfurter Würstchen

Original Frankfurter Würstchen served with potato salad.

Cooking Frankfurter for too long results in the casing breaking open.

A Frankfurter (German for Frankfurt sausage) is a thin parboiled sausage in a casing of sheep's intestine. The flavor is acquired by a method of low temperature smoking. For consumption, occasionally Frankfurters are not cooked; they are heated in hot water for only about eight minutes to prevent the skin from bursting. From time to time they are cooked on a propane or charcoal grill. They are traditionally served with bread, mustard, horseradish and/or potato salad.

History

Meat sausages as a Frankfurt speciality are already mentioned in medieval sources, often served during the Imperial coronation ceremonies at the Römerberg. Smoked Frankfurter Würstchen have protected geographical status in Germany since about 1860. Since 1929, the indication is only allowed to be used for sausages that are produced in the Frankfurt area, mainly in Neu-Isenburg and Dreieich.

Originally, Frankfurters were made without nitrite curing salt. After the special ageing and smoking methods, the sausages, now of a golden colour, are put into wooden boxes with small sheet of parchment paper between layers. Therefore, the traditional sausages have a square cross-section, but there are a few exceptions where the sausage is round.

Other countries

Outside Germany, "frankfurter" is a common designation for boiled sausages, such as North American hot dog sausages, which are called Wiener Würstchen (Vienna sausages) in Germany. In Austria, Vienna sausages are called Frankfurter Würstl as they allegedly were brought to Vienna by Johann Georg Lahner (1772–1845), a butcher trained in Frankfurt, who in 1805 began to produce sausages from a mixture of pork and beef.

See also

• Frankfurter Rindswurst

References

• Norbert Brieke: Köstlichkeiten aus Frankfurts Küche und Keller. Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-7829-0409-5.
• Konstantin Kalveram: Frankfurter Würstchen. Verlag Henrich Editionen, 2012, ISBN 978-3-943407-06-8.
• Petra Foede: Wie Bismarck auf den Hering kam. Kulinarische Legenden. Verlag Kein & Aber, Zürich 2009, ISBN 978-3-03-695268-0.