Wurstkunde
A guide to
German wurst
Germany recognises well over a thousand sausage varieties. You do not need all of them. You need about ten.
| Wurst | From | What it is | How it is eaten |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bratwurst | Nationwide | Fresh pork, often with veal. Fine or coarse ground depending on region. Cooked from raw. | Grilled, in a roll or on a plate, with mustard. |
| Nürnberger | Nuremberg | Small, finger-length, heavy on marjoram. Protected by EU origin status. | Six, eight or twelve at a time, with kraut. |
| Thüringer | Thuringia | Long, coarse, caraway and garlic. Also origin-protected. | Grilled over charcoal, in a roll, with sharp mustard. |
| Weisswurst | Munich | Pale veal and pork with parsley and lemon. Never browned. | Poached, before noon, with sweet mustard and a pretzel. Skin left behind. |
| Bockwurst | Berlin | Gently smoked veal and pork, pre-cooked. | Warmed in water, eaten with a Bock bier — hence the name. |
| Currywurst | Berlin | Bratwurst under curry-tomato sauce and curry powder. | Sliced, in a paper tray, with a small wooden fork and chips. |
| Käsekrainer | Austria | Smoked pork studded with pockets of cheese. | Grilled until the cheese bursts. Expect mess. |
| Blutwurst | Nationwide | Blood sausage, often with barley or diced fat. | Fried in slices, with apple and onion. |
| Leberwurst | Nationwide | Soft liver sausage, spreadable. | On dark bread, cold, with pickles. |
| Frankfurter | Frankfurt | Thin, smoked, pure pork in sheep casing. Origin-protected. | Warmed, never boiled, with potato salad. |
The one rule about Weisswurst
Munich tradition holds that Weisswurst should not hear the noon bell. The sausage is unsmoked, uncured and made without preservatives, so before refrigeration it genuinely had to be eaten the morning it was made. The rule outlived its reason, and Bavarians enforce it anyway.
You also do not eat the skin. Either cut the sausage lengthways and lift the meat out, or — if you want to do it the way an actual Bavarian does — bite one end and suck. It is called zuzeln, it looks undignified, and it is correct.
Why some names are legally protected
Nürnberger Rostbratwurst, Thüringer Rostbratwurst and Frankfurter Würstchen carry EU protected-origin status. That means the name is tied to a place and a specification: a Nürnberger must be made in Nuremberg, to a defined weight and length, or it cannot be sold under the name.
It is the same legal machinery that protects Champagne and Parmigiano Reggiano, applied to sausage — which tells you roughly how seriously the subject is taken.
Fresh, cooked, cured — the three families
German sausage divides into Rohwurst (raw, cured, keeps — like salami), Brühwurst (scalded and pre-cooked — Bockwurst, Frankfurter, Weisswurst) and Kochwurst (cooked from already-cooked ingredients — Blutwurst, Leberwurst).
Bratwurst sits slightly outside the neat scheme: it is a fresh sausage, sold raw, cooked to order. Which is exactly what makes it worth building a restaurant around, and exactly why it cannot be held in a tray.
Eight of them are on our grill
Reading about sausage is a poor substitute for eating one.