The original slim pork sausage in natural casing, gently heated in water, never boiled, and eaten with bread, mustard and horseradish. Every hot dog on earth is a distant, lesser descendant.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Frankfurt's butchers were smoking slim pork sausages for the city's fairs centuries before the name travelled. The designation Frankfurter Würstchen has been protected in Germany since 1929, reserved for the smoked pork sausage in sheep casing made in the Frankfurt region. Emigrant butchers carried the style to Vienna and on to America, where it mutated into the hot dog. At home the rules stay strict: warmed in hot water off the boil so the casing never splits, served in pairs, eaten with the fingers.
Tip from the editors. Boiling water splits the casing and ruins the snap; off the heat is the entire technique. Buy sausages labelled Frankfurter Würstchen, not frankfurters.
Apfelwein Wagner proves Frankfurt tradition is a budget cuisine: Handkäs at €5.10 and Rippchen with kraut under €15 on Schweizer Strasse every day.
Try: Handkäs mit Musik at €5.10, Grüne Soße at €14.50
Tip: Order Handkäs and a Schoppen for the cheapest authentic Frankfurt dinner going; bread comes with it, and nobody hurries you out.
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