Sausages are a staple of German street food, and yet most places serve sausages in a round “semmel” bun. But the sausages are long (duh) so they just beg for a longer bun. Why do you think hot-dog-style buns aren’t more popular?
As a German I think of American hot dogs as disgusting sausage wrapped in disgusting bread.
I think the overall sentiment is not so much why doesn’t Germany do American style bread buns, but moreso why isn’t there a bun of any style of bread in the mix in certain situations. Maybe not for a restaurant setting but wursts in quick eat situations like fairs and food trucks/stands…seems like it would make sense. Some have em but its pretty rare.
My theory is that you just don’t need them. You only need enough to keep something between your fingers and the hot wurst.
Do you mean the shape of the bun or the kind of bread? Kind of bread: because American bread sucks. Especially hot dog or burger buns.
The shape is a more interesting question, I feel.
It seems to me that you are talking mainly about southern Germany, because they call the buns ‘Semmel’. In the north it’s more commonly called ‘Brötchen’, which are more elongated than the round Semmeln. Other regional names and variants exist, too. A Brötchen isn’t totally Form fitting like a hot dog bun is, either. My guess is that the bun exists more as a vehicle for the sausage as opposed to a real part of dish, like in a hot dog. Some people just eat a Bratwurst mit Senf with just a small piece of toast to hold it, some of them even discard the bread. Its all about the Wurst, baby. So why are the buns tasty themselves? Might be traditional German quality standards. Back when they still existed.
Just my observation bit most Germans eat with knife and fork. Also, wouldn’t work with Currywurst (think of a cut up sausage in enough curry sauce to drown a good size…we’ll…it’s too much sauce. Cheeseburgers…I’ve only seen them eat with knife and fork. But that’s just my observations (limited as they are)
I’m sorry, who the fuck eats a burger with cutlery? Except maybe some tiny amount of people in Restaurants (not Burger places)
I’m telling you who: Germans. Also, there must be placemats under plates.
So a tiny amount of people do this, and you generalise and say all Germans. Ok.
I do! And when I get funny looks about it I tell them “Jeder, wie er kann”.
Honestly, I just don’t like my hands dirty
When the burger is too high to handle (most modern places that aren’t street food joints) you have no other choice.
Lots of Discordians here
Because hot dog buns taste like shit. Sugary like cake and a consistency of marshmallows. Germans like real bread.
FWIW, my first hot dog (described to me by my father as „ein heißer Hund“) was served to me in a long breadroll, made out of European-style white bread (the non-foamy kind). The breadroll was hollowed out and open on one side, so the sausage could be slipped in, along with a helping of (Gewürz?)ketchup. Loved that shit! A bit a googling seems to suggest that these are called “French Hot Dogs”.
Years later I was very confused when I came upon traditional “American” hot dogs.
If you want a hot dog get a hot dog.
The solution are Nürnberger Bratwürste. They are just as long as a Kaiserbrötchen and you get 3 at a time which fits perfect in the other dimension too.
Great, haven’t tried those. Are they different from regular Bratwurst?
They are the best Bratwürste in whole germany ofc. (I’m totaly unbiased cough)
If the buns were longer, you couldn’t eat the delicious pure sausage first. Best technique is to extract the sausage bit by bit by drawing it with your teeth out of the bun. As dessert you’ll get a sausage-and-mustard flavoured bun.
That’s not possible with hot dogs, as neither the sausage nor the bun taste on their own. I’d even doubt they taste at all…
So that’s how you supposed to eat it…
It’s just one of my favourite ways of eating it.
The only real requirement for correct Bratwurst im Brötchen eating is to fight everyone tooth and nail who dares to doubt that your local Bratwurst variety is objectively the best of all.
As a non-German eating a local Bratwurst im Brötchen, I think it would be wise to acknowledge that the local one is great =) Actually, I haven’t travelled all that much to distinguish between different varieties. I’d be curious to try them out. Are there the varieties that are a must-try? Someone mentioned the Nuremberg ones.
I am strongly biased towards Franconian Bratwurst and spoiled for the other varieties.
I personally think Nürnberger are a very good Bratwurst species – flavour famously compressed in a shape small enough to fit through a medieval key hole to circumvent medieval sales restriction, or so the myth is told.
My absolute favorite are Coburger. These are Thuringian sausages grilled with pine cones as burning material. The pine cones give a very distinct flavour to the sausage. As you have to visit the marketplace of Coburg to get them, this might be quite an effort. Coburg is not on the Europe/Germany-in-x-days tours list, but still a nice town worth a visit. (Especially if you are aware that in the 19^th century the main export article of Coburg used to be princes and princesses and every single royal house of Europe is Coburgian, sort of. And no, I’m not from Coburg.)
Was zum fick bin ich lesend? Du isst Wurst und Semmel getrennt?!?!?!
Viele Wege weisen zum wahren Wurstgenuss, wähle weise dem Anlass angemessen.
Because they are fucking disgusting
I’ve been wondering that myself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any hotdogs sold as street food in Germany. Yet at least on major cities in neighbouring countries it is a thing. Seen it first hand several times in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.
