{"id":7208,"date":"2019-06-16T06:34:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T05:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=7208"},"modified":"2025-01-14T17:29:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T16:29:35","slug":"frankfurter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/frankfurter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Frankfurter sausage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/frankfurtersmall.jpg\" alt=\"Two frankfurters\" class=\"wp-image-12839\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/frankfurtersmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/frankfurtersmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The ultimate quick meal in a Viennese household is to whack a couple of frankfurters into a pot of hot water, then down the results with a bit of bread and a dollop of mustard or ketchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Austrian equivalent of the US wiener (or Vienna) sausage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Available at sausage stands across the city and every grocery store<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interesting variations are the upmarket Sacherw\u00fcrstel and the artery-unfriendly Berner W\u00fcrstel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Book a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/vienna-walking-tours-l205287\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_FandD\" rel=\"sponsored\">walking tour<\/a>* in Vienna<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/sausages\/\">Guide to Vienna sausages<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a Frankfurter?<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Frankfurtersketchup.jpg\" alt=\"Frankfurters, roll and ketchup\" class=\"wp-image-41454\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Frankfurtersketchup.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Frankfurtersketchup-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(But where&#8217;s the mustard?))<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The frankfurter is the Model T Ford of the Viennese sausage world. The plain pancake with no toppings. The simple espresso in the coffee shop of culinary delights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look on any price list hanging outside one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/sausages\/\">Vienna sausage stands<\/a> and the frankfurter usually sits up near the top. It&#8217;s likely the cheapest option, too. They tend to come in pairs accompanied by a plain white <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/bread\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"32429\">roll<\/a>, mustard and ketchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what is a frankfurter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it&#8217;s basically what North America knows as the wiener or Vienna sausage: a parboiled sausage made predominantly from pork and\/or beef, bacon and seasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike most of its fried colleagues on the sausage stand, the frankfurter is usually cooked in hot water before serving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One story I\u2019ve heard is that a butcher from Frankfurt invented the sausage while living in Vienna: hence the linguistic mix up. And you&#8217;ll find locals using the word wiener, too, though rarely (see below for more language shenanigans).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now let me introduce you to two relatives of our humble snack&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Sacherw\u00fcrstel<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/sacherwuerstelsausage.jpg\" alt=\"Sacherw\u00fcrstel with mustard, horse radish and roll\" class=\"wp-image-75756\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/sacherwuerstelsausage.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/sacherwuerstelsausage-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Note the shape compared to a frankfurter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sacherw\u00fcrstel represents the more sophisticated version of the lowly frankfurter: longer, thinner, better-quality ingredients, and an urgent desire to discuss existentialist theory with you over a latte. This produces a slightly darker, more aromatic and a touch &#8220;crunchier&#8221; sausage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Berner W\u00fcrstel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another variation is the Berner W\u00fcrstel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You slice a frankfurter in half along its length, put cheese between the two halves, wrap this &#8220;frankfurter sandwich&#8221; in slices of bacon, then fry the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Needless to say, this rarely features in any lists headlined <em>Top Ten Healthy Meals<\/em>. If you can ignore the ingredients list and the likely consequences for your body, though, you&#8217;re in for a delicious treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Berner W\u00fcrstel is another linguistic trap, suggesting origins in the Swiss city of Bern. Nope. It first appeared in the Austrian winter resort of Zell am See. The cook&#8217;s name? Erich Berner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wiener? Frankfurter?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The word <em>Wiener <\/em>is actually German for a male from Vienna, and means precisely that locally. I&#8217;m now a Wiener by choice (I know how that sounds). My wife is a <em>Wienerin<\/em> (a female from Vienna).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the term <em>Frankfurter <\/em>also means someone from the German city of Frankfurt. I don&#8217;t know what they call the wiener\/frankfurter sausage there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, let\u2019s add another layer of linguistic perplexity&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The German for sausage is <em>Wurst<\/em>. And Austria has something called Wienerwurst (often shortened to just Wiener), which literally translates as wiener sausage. This is a kind of sliced, processed meat popular in bread rolls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And just to round off the confusion, mathematics has its own Wiener sausage, too (a representation of something called Brownian motion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Incidentally, the wiener\/frankfurter is not the only food with a confusing name. The German word <em>Paprika<\/em>, for example, is the spice of the same English name, but also the word for bell pepper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ultimate quick meal in a Viennese household is to whack a couple of frankfurters into a pot of hot water, then down the results with a bit of bread and a dollop of mustard or ketchup. What is a Frankfurter? (But where&#8217;s the mustard?)) The frankfurter is the Model T Ford of the Viennese [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-food","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7208"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80740,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208\/revisions\/80740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}