It will likely be the food of the Euros after UEFA confirmed that stadiums across Germany will serve the delicacy.

For many of the Britons travelling to see the action live, it will be their first time trying the fast-food item, but the currywurst has long been a delicacy. 

The dish consists of steamed and fried sausage, cut into bite size pieces, and is served with a curried ketchup sauce. 

One might compare its popularity in Germany to that of fish and chips in the UK, and as British fans flock to German stadiums, the historic dish will likely win some new fans. 

Revellers in Germany are already indulging on the meat dish and giving their thoughts, while those in the UK are attempting to recreate the dish themselves. 

Football fans heading to Munich ahead of the Euros are dining on currywursts, including content creator Zach (pictured), from London, who recorded his reaction to the German delicacy

The pork sausage garnished with curry sauce is typically presented on a white cardboard platter with a two-pronged plastic fork. 

It can be served with skin or without, and there’s no doubt that visiting fans will have developed their own preference by the end of the month-long tournament.

While its origins are contested, the currywurst has a special place in the food culture of Berlin.

‘Our city is all about currywurst, and I think our city can’t live without currywurst. Whoever comes to Berlin has to try currywurst to know what the city’s about,’ said Linda Konnopke, who helps run her family’s popular fast-food joint in the German capital’s Prenzlauer Berg district.

Her great-grandparents Max and Charlotte Konnopke first began selling sausages from their portable grill in 1930, and the family-run business has since become an institution famous for its currywurst. 

Their son, Günter Konnopke, introduced the dish to East Berlin in 1960. It was an immediate hit. The recipe is still a closely guarded family secret.

‘Our absolute highlight is our currywurst without skin. That’s our biggest seller,’ Linda said.

The currywurst is usually sliced into convenient bite-sized portions. It can be doused in ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder, but some vendors – like Konnopke’s – will use their own specific curry sauce.

Food content creator Tommy Egan, from London, shared his quick and easy currywurst dish on TikTok

A woman named Herta Heuwer is largely credited with its invention. Heuwer was one of thousands of Berlin’s ‘Trümmerfrauen,’ or rubble women, who helped clear the wreckage left after World War II, and afterwards she ran her own fast-food business in the borough of Charlottenburg in the west of the city.

Some say Heuwer was bored one day and decided to experiment with the ingredients she had; others that she ran out of mustard and needed an alternative. Either way, she claimed to have invented the currywurst on 4 September 1949.

Berlin proclaimed itself the ‘currywurst capital’ on a plaque honouring Heuwer where she sold her first currywurst, but there are rival claims from Hamburg and the Ruhr area in western Germany.

At the German Cup final in Berlin last month, Kaiserslautern fan Luisa Albert said she prefers the currywurst in Kaiserslautern, which is in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ‘As stadium food, it’s always a winner,’ she said. 

‘Currywurst is the best thing you can eat before a game,’ she said. ‘It gives you the strength to cheer and celebrate and do everything.’

Fans attending games at Berlin’s Olympiastadion will be able to get their currywurst from Hertha Berlin supporter Ollie Brandt, who has been offering fast-food outside the stadium for more than 40 years.

Brandt takes great pride in offering currywurst sausages manufactured to another longstanding family recipe, but he doesn’t think much of currywurst from outside the capital.

‘If you go to the Rhineland, for example, you get a grilled sausage that’s smeared with a sort of curry sauce sold as a currywurst. But that’s no currywurst,’ Brandt said.

Brandt said fans would simply have to try the different types and styles to determine their favourite.

‘We have I don’t know how many thousands of snack bars all over Berlin, East and West. Everyone does it differently. It doesn’t taste the same anywhere, but it’s still simply unique,’ Brandt said.

How to make currywurst at home using three ingredients…

A traditional currywurst recipe combines a long list of spices to get the desired sauce. 

However, thanks to ketchup, a three-ingredient recipe has since developed. 

Ingredients 

• Bratwurst
• Curry Ketchup
• Curry Powder

Optional ingredients –

• Krakauer Bacon Frankfurter
• The Dukes of Chippingdom Skin Off
• Mayonnaise  

Method – 

• Shallow fry the sausages on low heat for six to 10 minutes until browned. If pairing the dish with chips having chips, deep fry now for about 5 minutes. 
• Cut the sausages into bitesize chunks.
• Place the Bratwurst one side of the plate, chips in the middle, and if using Krakauer, place on the other side. 
• Cover the sausages in curry ketchup, sprinkle curry powder over these. For extra flavour, you can add some spring onions, chillies, and coriander.
• Add mayonnaise to the chips, and enjoy. 

 Source – The Sausage Man 

Advertisement

In the UK, those looking to recreate the recipe with minimal ingredients can combine ketchup with curry powder to top on their sausages.

Food content creator Thomas Egan, from London, took to TikTok to share his version of a more complex currywurst ahead of the Euros.

He combined garlic, onion, curry powder, cinnamon, and cumin, with tomatoes for the sauce.

Elsewhere, football fan Zach, who goes by @zach.footwear on TikTok, drove to Munich from England.

After arriving, he stopped for a currywurst. He described the meal as ‘decent’ but felt its ‘just a sausage’.

Fans of the German delicacy have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to share their excitement about the dish 

Elsewhere, football fans have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to comment on the Germany delicacy. 

One user who travelled to Munich yesterday said: ‘Going to smash [eat] a currywurst as soon as I land on Thursday. Om nom nom.’

Elsewhere, in Scotland, one was enjoying a local twist on the German dish and said: ‘Local business, Grazey Days, selling Tartan Army pies and Currywurst and chips pies! We’re sorted for tonight’s scran!’

A third wrote: ‘Exciting to see UEFA embracing Germany’s food culture with currywurst at the European Championship games!’

‘Seeing scenes of fans from all over Europe enjoying currywurst, Weißbier, hospitable atmospheres, etc. is amazing to see! It’s going to be a great tournament,’ said another.