Bouncing from the catsup/mustard thread, I have heard of but never eaten currywurst. Have we experts here to help us make a superior version at home?
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We’ve been to Berlin, where it’s a specialty at roadside kiosks, a number of times, but we only ate it once, in a restaurant. Didn’t particularly like it. We interviewed one kiosk owner, and he told us that it just a normal pork sausage in a curry sauce.
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Thanks. I wonder if this recipe is good.
Besides a lunch/snack, I can see seared rounds doused in the sauce as a cocktail/wine accompaniment. In a porcelain spoon or, if you can handle drips on your floor, on a toothpick. Thoughts?
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Not my thing but I like the addition of Worcestershire sauce. (Notice the first syllable of Worcestershire sounds a bit like “wurst”.). Maybe a tiny bowl that’s big enough to hold the sauce and a chunk of the sausage to minimise the mess in case of dripping.
In the Berlin episode Rick Stein says it was probably a British serviceman who put curry powder on the sauce.
Currywurst is ubiquitous in Berlin but nowadays one can get it almost everywhere in Germany. Turkish kebab also.
This is more my thing… with mustard. (only because I can’t stomach curry powder and curries)
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I had it once in Berlin, which was more than enough. I didn’t realize prior to eating it that the curry sauce was just ketchup with curry powder in it. I love curry, but I DESPISE ketchup. I’ll be over in the corner with @Presunto having my Wurst with mustard, thankyouverymuch.
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My gut reaction is the same as yours. But I am attracted by the possible, unforeseen to me, symbiosis of the two. Or should I say three: wurst, catsup and curry.
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I lived in Berlin and have eaten my fair share of Currywurst over the years (luckily I dodged one U-bahn station sausage that sent my husband into dire food poisoning for a week). Here’s what I would do:
Get some authentic German Bratwursts from Aldi (or possibly Trader Joe’s). You want the greyish ones that come vacuum sealed and precooked. Grill them up, slice on the diagonal, drizzle with curry ketchup, and serve with a fluffy white roll (think bolillo). I make our curry ketchup with organic sugar-sweetened ketchup from Aldi, agave syrup, curry powder, and a pinch of cayenne. That’s it. It should be a bit thinner than regular ketchup and significantly sweeter. You can also find German brands of curry ketchup at World Market - either mild or spicy.
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The Worcestershire sauce and spices don’t seem right to me. And it’s definitely not a kielbasa or Hungarian style sausage. You want a finally textured Bratwurst with hints of nutmeg- not the American version of Bratwurst, either. I think Trader Joe’s sometimes carries mini Nürenberger sausages, which come very close.
Missing from that curry ketchup recipe is a liquid sweetener - German ketchup as much sweeter than American.
Thank you! This will be lunch soon…
When I think sausage with nutmeg I think of bockwurst. Wrong in this context?
Here’s a good article with photos. It’s common to sprinkle the sliced sausage with more curry powder.
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According to Wikipedia, " Bockwursts made in America, also from veal and pork, bear more resemblance to the Bavarian Weisswurst in color and taste, albeit parsley is rarely used in this version."
I can’t say I’ve eaten Bockwurst in the US to know. If it’s soft and fluffy and whiteish, it’s not quite the right sausage for Currywurst. But it would still taste good. Nutmeg definitely features in Weisswurst. Weisswurst is most commonly served poached/steamed, not grilled, and eaten with sweet grainy mustard.
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Maggi currywurst sauce mix in Germany
Translation of ingredients listed on packaging:
sugar, potato starch, 13.4% tomatoes, spices (2% onions, peppers, fenugreek, turmeric, garlic, chilli, cumin, mustard seeds, coriander, pepper, cardamom, ginger), maltodextrin, fructose, rice flour, iodised salt, flavors , Apple powder, yeast extract, SOY POWDER (SOYBEANS, WHEAT, salt), beetroot juice powder, smoked bacon (bacon, smoke), sunflower oil, smoke flavor, salt, citric acid. May contain CELERY, EGGS and MILK.
(From Maggi Germany site)
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This list of ingredients reminds me of a conversation with a neighbor in the country. She had asked me for a recipe for chicken curry. She later called me, repeating the various spices I had told her including cumin, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, coriander, turmeric, and said, “Sorry to bother you again, but you left out the curry”.
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Sadly, I’m pretty sure TJ’s has discontinued the Nürnberger breakfast sausage. I haven’t gotten around to asking about it, but I haven’t seen for a very long time now (months and months, maybe as long as a year?)…
They do have some sort of “regular” Weisswurst, though, an American brand (not TJ’s own label), and I’m not sure what it’s called - maybe Bockwurst - though if you’re familiar with the Weisswurst by that name, that’s what it looks and more or less tastes like…
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Aldi sells a very similar product to those little sausages TJ’s used to carry
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This is one of the brands a lot of shops are using in Germany - you can order it from Amazon. And yes, the correct sausage is important (and I miss a good Currywurst from time to time on the US. The last decent one in US was in Manhattan but not on the same level as in Germany.
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This is the one sold at World Market, too.
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Funny!
While I do endorse the alternative idea of buying German imported sauces, I think curry sauce can easily be made at home with ketchup base. The fresher your curry spices, the better. I grind my own mix, but a fresh spicy curry bottle is fine. Also, adding a bit of honey or agave sweetener can help, but I advise letting the initial mixture sit in the fridge for a day before adjustments. Takes a while for dry spices to infuse.
As to sausages, most German street stands hand out pretty average dogs, on a par with Ball Park franks. The better places use Weisswurst. A seasoned and blondish sausage is better than a standard American dog. IMO.
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