STILL popular after so many years!

Will the hamburger still be around 2000 years from now?

Probably few things identify your German heritage more than making sausage. It was a means of survival of our German ancestors during the winter months, as well as not wasting precious meat scraps, Nothing could be wasted, Most civilizations came up with the idea for a sausage, our forefather's and mother's ingenuity probably came up with the idea of using the intestines to put all the little parts of the pig that were left over including the blood all on their own. Nothing was wasted except the squeak.

Why Germany was a great place to cure sausage According to my favorite food historian Alan Davidson the best sausage makers were in the colder countries like Germany as opposed to Mediterranean countries where food was more available during the cooler months. The best cured sausages seem came from mountainous regions where the dryer northern winds helped in the curing process. This is why Britain wasn't known to produce good cured sausages. Some attempts at making cured sausages back then resulted in a new form of bacteria poisoning which they later called Botulism, which the word comes from Botellus, a latin word for sausage. the use of Nitrates and proper sausage making have eliminated this.

Where does the word Bratwurst come from? One theory is that Brat is an Old High German word (spoken between the 9th and 11th centuries) that means ....meat without waste ....and Wurst means sausage and probably comes from the word wirren that originally meant.... mixture.

When you cook sausage you are performing one of the oldest cooking techniques. The first recorded cookbook “Apicus Cookery” from approx. 228 AD has sausage recipes in it. Apicus lived in Rome. But who knows when and where this technique began.

a Bratwurst Researcher from Würzburg, Heinrich Höllerl, has discovered that the Bratwurst has its origins with the Celtics and it was the Franconians that developed it further.

German heritage is even more identified with sausage as the pig was the animal of choice for meat as probably beef is in America, Unsurprisingly the pig is a good luck symbol in Germany. Also it is very cold in the winters, sausage was an excellent way to preserve the pig and use up all the trimmings ….”all but the tail and the oink” as some have put it.

In America our German ancestors have really kept the Bratwurst tradition going. It has become a social food in places like Wisconsin where they have “Brat frys” on the weekends like they have BBQ's in the south.

Historian finds oldest recipe for bratwurst

Thurninga is a state in Germany that really takes their bratwurst seriously like Chicago takes their deep dish pizza seriously, and Cajuns take their gumbo seriously and Texas takes their BBQ seriously.

In Wiemar, Thuringa, located above Bavaria,

A document was found recently dating to 1432, showing that Bratwurst makers had strict guidelines on what the quality had to be or they were fined.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A hobby historian, Heinrich Höllerlhas discovered the oldest known recipe for German sausage, a list of ingredients for Thuringian bratwurst nearly 600 years old.

According to the 1432 guidelines, Thuringian sausage makers had to use only the purest, unspoiled meat and were threatened with a fine of 24 pfennigs -- a day's wages -- if they did not, a spokesman for the German Bratwurst Museum said Wednesday.

Medieval town markets in Germany had committees charged with monitoring the quality of produce. Thuringian bratwursts, which are made of beef and pork, are symbols of Germany's cultural heritage and ubiquitous snacks at football matches.

Historian Hubert Erzmann, 75, found the ancient recipe, inscribed with pen and ink in a heavy tome of parchment, earlier this year while doing research in an archive in the eastern town of Weimar, museum spokesman Thomas Maeuer said. "The discovery shows that there were already consumer protection laws in the Middle Ages," he said.

There are over 40 different varieties of Bratwurst throughout Germany,

There are theories of where the Bratwurst was first started.
Many from Thuringa say they stuffed the first wurst. The Franconian’s feel frankly they started the sausage we call Bratwurst.
Heinrich Höllerl a bratwurst historian, has discovered that the Bratwurst has its origins with the Celtics and it was the Franconians that developed it further.

Celtics? Yes the first Celts were from an area of Austria, and then migrated ending up in Northern England and Ireland.

Longest Bratwurst in Germany!

Probably the longest sausage of North Bavaria is called Mainfränkische Meterbratwurst.

Who started this meter long Bratwurst?

Lawrence Stark, who had saved his master's certificate as a butcher in 1949 and led as well as a restaurant host, invented in 1953 the meter, which has attained cult status. A group of regulars at that time was thirsty and starving in the guest room. The atmosphere and the pints were as good as the sausages with sauerkraut and freshly baked bread. One enthusiastic guest spoke the magic words to the host: "I can Wurscht The meter setting ess" And the resourceful butcher - restaurateur Stark acted immediately. After 30 minutes in the sausage kitchen, he came back with a long sausage, it was sizzling in the pan until golden brown and served the first meter of bratwurst.The Sulzfelder meter sausage - served charming - this event has attracted many brave eater record and ensured a lively atmosphere on all sides.Whoever managed to record the current length of offer, ate nothing. The current record holder (Andreas Schäfer from Naila, then 19 years old) consumed in 1999 in Guest House "star" an incredible 5.60 meters plus side dishes.

These are just a few of the Bratwurst and some of the history.

http://www.euro-goodies.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=180

http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/christmas_shopping_guide.htm

http://hauptsache-es-schmeckt.blogspot.com/2010_04_18_archive.html

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaue_Zipfel

http://www.food-from-bavaria.de/de/reg_spez/einzelprodukt.php?an=260

http://www.worldhum.com/features/how-to/eat_weisswurst_in_munich_20070626/