h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Currywurst - A classic German snack - A87814524
Author: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor - U1314679

Just a little something which was lying almost finished half forgotten on my PS for months.

The recipe is how my bf cooks it, he probably learned it from his father.

Hi Tav - well done for tackling this. It's not one of the things I can get particularly excited about, and Sho will no doubt come along with some expert advice later.

A couple of points I noticed on reading:

>>In former East Berlin the most popular Currywurst is a pork and veal sausage without casing, << - the English usually call it simply "skin".

>>which was probably invented due to a shortness in guts.<<

Shortness would imply that the guts were short in length! Scarcity, or lack, might be better words.

>>It is made by directly injecting the meat masse<< Masse is not quite right. You could simply leave it out altogether or put "mixture" - there may be a proper butcher's word for it.

>>In Hamburg and the Rhur Area<< Ruhr!

Another post coming...

It occurred to me that there is a whole culture surrounding the currywurst.

Herbert Grönemeyer has a song about it.

There are special plates available:

http://www.living-quality.de/product_info.php/info/p11477_Pommes-Frites---Currywurst-Schale-aus-Porzellan.html

No cutlery, of course, because it is usually eaten with little disposable wooden forks.

But you can get special machines to cut the sausage into even pieces, which is used at kiosks and street fests to save time. Cutting the sausage before serving it and pouring the famous sauce over it means that the sausage is covered with the sauce to an optimum extent, and facilitate the eating with that little fork.

There are those which cut lengthwise

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Edelstahl-Hand-Currywurstschneider-CWSH-Currywurst-Schneider-Schneidegeraet-Imbis-/140898773297

And those where you put the sausage in vertically at the top:

http://ubert.com/produkte/kleingeraete-und-zubehoer/kleingeraete.html

Many famous people and politicians like to be seen eating their currywurst standing in front of a currywurst stand, to be found on lots of street corners in Berlin. Makes for good publicity.

Here's a picture of the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, eating some:

http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article13535655/Oeko-Partei-faellt-bei-Currywurst-Gerangel-negativ-auf.html

I enjoyed the article. I'm useless at cooking so won't comment on that side, but the only thing I'd've liked to see added is a link to the Currywurst Museum.

If there's a museum about a topic, it must surely be cultural and it shows that you're writing about something important

<BB<

Hi TC and BB

Thanks for your comments and corrections!
I'll make corrections and additions later.

I am a foreigner to the Currywurst culture, too. They don't usually sell it here (we eat 'Eitrige' instead )but it seemed to me like a topic we should have on hootoo.

What on EARTH are "eitrige?"

That translates as pus.

And I meant to mention that about the link to the Currywurst museum as well.

I might be able to get more about that, as I have one son still at Uni in Berlin.

http://currywurstmuseum.com/en/

The Grönemeyer song.

http://youtu.be/MnZT0cXNRJQ

The 'official' name of Eitrige is Käsekrainer, which is a smoked sausage for grilling and frying. There's not only meat in it but also quite a lot of cheese which causes the skin to burst in places while heating up (or when you cut it). This obviously inspired people to associate it with pus.

http://www.grillsportverein.de/upload_neu/2009/07/455_ksekrainer_1.jpg

I've heard of Käsekrainer. We now have some sausages with cheese in them here, too. The memory of biting into a sausage and cheese squiding out makes me shudder.

But that may just be me.

I'm not a fan of sausages, and the Eitrige sounds foul

Your Entry is great though!

I got a bit confused at first about the word "Currywurst" but reading it again, I see that it is used to refer to the whole dish of sausages and sauce...

The sentence "In Berlin Currywurst is usually made from sausages similar to Bockwurst" - I think "made with sausages" would clarify that. Then in the sentence "In former East Berlin the most popular Currywurst is a pork and veal sausage" - add "the most popular Currywurst is made with a pork and veal sausage" Same again in the next paragraph: "Currywurst is usually made from Bratwurst" - "made with".

Also in the Basic Recipe section "everyone makes them differently" - better to say "everyone makes it differently", I think, as you're referring to the snack.

thanks Sasha. I'll make these corrections.

I really love Käsekrainer, but i know it sounds strange to people who don't know it.

Hey, Tav, this is great! A useful addition - and of course, I've always loved currywurst.

I think TV and Sasha have hit all the hit spots, but i wanted to add that for 'shortness of guts' you should probably say 'shortage'. And I'd call the 'guts' either 'pork skins' or the more straightforward 'instestinese', because, well, 'guts' sounds pretty awful...

And it's such a delicious food!

I enjoyed this as well. I'm going to work out a vegan version. Don't worry I won't ever tell a German this, as they may be mortally offended.

MMMM sausages I enjoyed i tmuchly as well

so, by the sound of it, with the polititions wanting to be 'seen' eating this, at a 'traditional street vender' of the meal, its probably a bit like in this country, in the UK, where from time to time a polition gets himself (well they useually tend to be men still ) standing outside a fish N chip shop eating a bag of their food, or crunching into a cornish pasty or etc to 'demonstrate' how 'in touch' they are with 'the people' some things, it appears, are the same the world over

Proper butchers here in the UK, do some pretty experimental and funky sausage recipies these days... Guinness and pork, Stilton cheese I've seen in them before, but not other cheeses that I can remember; though pork mince/sausage meat and cheese can go fabulusly together; I did a batch of cheese and pork sausage meat sausage rolls at Christmas, and they vanished before the ones I made without the cheese (no, wasn't just* me eating htem honest)

Not sure where I could get the German style sausages in the UK though, I fancy perhaps some of teh Polish ones I get woudln't be too far differnt perhaps

OH, and I lieked the entry

Only possible one point; at the end, you say they can be eaten with 'chips', and my first thought, on reading that, is, are we talking chip chips, or potato chrisps... I guess the former...

Currywurst goes with pommes frites.

Thanks to everyone for the comments!

Woolly Mammoth: I think they make vegetarian versions with soy/tofu sausages, so this shouldn't be a problem? As the sauce contains no meat and tastes very strong I can imagine it works well.
on the other hand I found a recipe where someone suggests using a carrot instead of a sausage and I just can't imagine *that* working.


I already imagined that this is an Entry for 2legs.
I also think Käsekrainer are something for you as they contain sausage AND cheese... and you can eat baguette with them.

I think I made all the changes now.

sausages, containing cheese and pork meat.... wrapped in bacon... and grilled.... maybe a sliced hardboiled egg... then its time to fill the baguette

Looks good to me, Tav. I'm drooling.

Thanks Tavaron, this sounds like my kind of meal

I have put this down as a supper some night this week!

Just a few comments;

> This is possible because the sausages are cut before they are poured over with the sauce.

This would read better as

The sausages are cut before the sauce is poured over them.

>Spices used to make Bockwurst are for instance paprika and coriander.

I would replace 'for instance' with 'usually' or 'often'

These are all minor points that can be sorted by the Sub Editor, but my real question is

>about 1/4 glass of water, the exact amount depends on how fluid your ketchup is

How thick should the sauce be? I have glasses that range from 8 to 16 ounces (I don't think any of them hold ml but that's just because I live in the US

We use one recipe for cheese filled hamburgers that uses tomato soup. We often use tomato sauce, tomato paste and ketchup. Should the sauce stand up on a spoon, or just be a bit thicker than soup?

Thank you for posting this

F S