What’s the Wurst that could happen?

Sometimes you just fall in love with the national dish of a country, and that’s what happened with these German sausages, where I learned that ze wurst is ze best!

Bratwurst is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef. The name is derived from Old High German Brätwurst, from brät-, which is finely chopped meat and Wurst, or sausage. Bratwurst is usually grilled or pan fried, and sometimes cooked in broth or beer. Of all the wurst I have seen and heard about in Germany, bratwurst is probably the most common – and boy does it taste nice! I can remember the joys of eating Sai Ua (Chiang Mai Sausage) when in Thailand, but I think bratwurst just pips it for taste – and it tastes even better with a pint of bier!

Bockwurst is a German sausage invented in 1889 in Berlin. It is one of the most popular varieties within Germany, and can be found abroad. The sausage is traditionally made from ground veal and pork (tending more towards veal, unlike bratwurst). Bockwurst is flavoured with salt, white pepper and paprika. Other herbs, such as chives and parsley, are often also added and in Germany itself bockwurst is often smoked as well. Bockwurst was originally eaten with bock beer and it is usually served with mustard. This seems to be the original – or influenced the original – Frankfurter, which are now synonymous with hotdogs, but I am not sure of this.

Currywurst is a fast food dish of German origin consisting of steamed, then fried pork sausage whole or less often cut into slices and seasoned with curry ketchup, a sauce based on spiced ketchup or tomato paste, itself topped with curry powder, or a ready-made ketchup seasoned with curry and other spices. The dish is often served with French fries. I have tried many different kinds of Currywurst, in many different countries (yes, even the UK!) and each time I realise that the curry is not as prominent as the name of the dish would have you believe. It is merely supposed to be a flavouring. However, this flavouring is very important and really makes the dish/snack stand out from other wurst-oriented foods in Germany.

Wurst is undoubtedly one of the top German street foods. Whichever kind of wurst you want, you can be sure it will be on sale in a food market somewhere, or in the famous biergartens of Munich! But what is your Wurst German food?