Currywurst: Germany’s iconic sausage with curry sauce

According to widespread belief, the currywurst originated in Berlin in the period after the Second World War. The restaurateur Herta Heuwer, who had been running a snack bar on the corner of Kant-/Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse in Berlin's Charlottenburg district since the summer of 1949, claimed to have invented the typical currywurst sauce in September 1949, served it with the fried sausage and thus invented the currywurst. It later provided its business with addresses such as: "1st currywurst roastery in the world" and "A Berlin speciality invented by us" and in 1959 registered the word-picture trademark "Chillup" for its sauce - a contraction of chilli and ketchup, recorded on 21 January 1959 on application of 21 February 1958 under number 721319 as a trademark for "Spezial-Sosse"[sic!] in the Zeichenrolle of the German Patent Office - Heuwer incorrectly described this as a "patent". According to Heuwer's account, the Kraft company (→ Mondelēz) unsuccessfully sought the recipe and the trademark right from her. Throughout her life, Heuwer insisted that she had used neither ketchup nor a ready-made seasoning mix, but had mixed the sauce with tomato paste and carefully seasoned it with individual spices. In her old age, she made several television appearances and was celebrated as the "inventor of the currywurst". The German Currywurst Museum, which opened in Berlin in 2009 and will remain open until December 2018, followed this view. Since 29 June 2003, there has been a commemorative plaque in honour of Herta Heuwer at the former location of her snack bar (→ Kantstraße 101; today an Asian supermarket).

However, Heuwer cannot claim the development of the currywurst entirely on its own. For one thing, certain details of her account do not seem plausible. She was keen to recall that on 4 September 1949, when she first stirred her sauce, it was raining profusely, whereas according to weather records it was supposed to have been a dry day. On the other hand, the role of the butcher Max Brückner from Johanngeorgenstadt in the Erzgebirge is to be considered above all. He had come to West Berlin after the end of the war, founded a company in Berlin-Spandau with a few employees from his homeland and had a self-developed process for the production of sausage without casing, which became known as "Spandauer ohne Pelle". In the early 1950s, he joined forces with Frank Friedrich, who also came from the Ore Mountains. The company they built, Maximilian, still exists. Older versions of the website contained detailed accounts of the company's history and its collaboration with Herta Heuwer. According to this, Heuwer's "first sauce creations" in 1949 did not yet lead to great success. It was only together with Frank Friedrich that she developed the final recipe, which she sold in her snack bar from then on. However, this account emphasizes that the currywurst as a dish was Heuwer's invention, because the idea to add the sauce was hers.

The success of Brückner's sausage without casing/pellet was due to the emergency situation in the post-war period. Natural casings were in short supply after the Second World War. To make sausage, the sausage meat (meat/fat mass) is pressed into a casing where it matures. This is how the sausage gets its shape. With Brückner's production method the sausage got its shape without casing. The first customer was the Jankowitz family from Spandau. The "Spandauer without pellet" was well received together with the popular tomato sauce (after Herta Heuwer's model). Later, when other snack vendors sold this sausage, the name "curry sausage without intestine" prevailed.

Currywurst is prepared differently from region to region. Sometimes the sauce is heated, sometimes seasoned with curry powder. The consistency ranges from pasty to thin, in some areas or individual snack bars it is plain ketchup.

Berlin currywurst

There are two basic varieties of Berlin curry sausage: with or without casing. The sausages without casings are cylindrical and whitish in colour, comparable to Bavarian woollen sausages. Requirements for the quality of Berliner Currywurst were agreed as early as 1951 between the Berlin authorities and the butchers' guild; this resulted in a so-called Berliner Verkehrsauffassung, which was later laid down by the competent Land authority and published in the Allgemeine Fleischer-Zeitung on 20 August 1967. According to this opinion, which was recognised in Berlin decades later, a fine, non-cured and non-smoked sausage of medium quality with a maximum addition of extraneous water of five per cent must be used as a sausage. Simple qualities or other sausages may therefore not be offered as 'Currywurst', but for example as 'Bratwurst mit Curry' or 'Dampfwurst mit Curry'.

Both varieties are first fried whole, usually in a fat pan about half covered with hot fat. When served, the sausage is cut by hand into bite-sized pieces - some traditional snack stands, such as Krasselt's Imbiß in Berlin-Steglitz, only serve currywurst with an angled cut. In this case, both halves of the sausage are fitted with a wooden piercer. Finally, the sausage is doused with the sauce and sprinkled liberally with curry powder (or vice versa). If desired, cayenne pepper (order: "hot" or "extra hot") or crushed dried chili peppers (order: "with seeds") are added. The addition of Worcester sauce or "hot onions" (chopped raw onions with chili) may be desired. A special ketchup based on tomato paste and spices is often made by the stand and is often added warm over the sausage links.

In the 1960s, the currywurst became known in East Berlin - among others through Konnopke's Imbiß. In GDR times, only curry sausage without casing was offered; bratwursts had already been produced without casing before. The sausage was served uncut in one piece with curry powder and cold thin ketchup (or cold thick tomato sauce). For eating with the fingers, one end of the sausage was left without sauce.

The typical side dish is a small soft roll, which is particularly good for dipping the sauce. In East Berlin it was a normal Schrippe or a slice of untoasted toast. Other typical side dishes are French fries, often with mayonnaise, or fried potatoes.

On 6 March 2020, the "Berlin Currywurst without intestine" was registered by the German Patent and Trademark Office as Geographical Indication 31 2017 001 169.4. This means that this type of "Berliner Currywurst" may only be produced in Berlin. The testing procedure took thirteen years, as many other producers also wanted to produce from outside.

Volkswagen Currywurst

The currywurst from the Volkswagen canteens in Wolfsburg is well known beyond the factory boundaries. The Currybockwurst has been available for consumption since 1973. In 2014, the VW butchery produced 6.3 million pieces. The sausage has around 20 percent fat content and contains neither phosphates nor milk protein. In this sausage, the sausage meat itself is seasoned with curry. This is added to the meat with pepper before it is smoked and cooked. VW curry sausage and VW spiced ketchup are also available in supermarkets in parts of Lower Saxony.