Exploring the City’s Culture & Culinary Heritage 🇩🇪🌭 (Ryyan Joye)
Namesake
“There is no way the frankfurter comes from Frankfurt,” I say to myself as I think about ideas for this “Wurst” edition of “What’s Up.” “That would just be too ‘on the nose.’” The frankfurter, usually made of pork or beef, can be grilled, roasted or simmered and is often boiled before serving. It is sometimes referred to as a “Wiener sausage.”
To my surprise, the frankfurter, probably the most popular of sausages and one that would eventually become the American hot dog, does, supposedly, come from Frankfurt. Not only that, but the history of the frankfurter, and sausages as a whole, is very fascinating and filled with controversy.
History
The history of the sausage (wurst) ostensibly dates back to Homer’s “Odyssey” in the ninth century BCE, with a line that states “As when a man besides a great fire has filled a sausage with fat and blood and turns it this way and that and is very eager to get it quickly roasted. . .” However, I went through three different versions of the Odyssey and could find no such line. I found countless articles that quoted it, but never found the line itself.
Something that is more agreed upon is that about a thousand years later, the Roman chef, Gaius, accidentally roasted a pig that hadn’t been properly cleaned beforehand. He then stuffed the empty intestines with ground meat, spices and wheat and served them for a meal.
The history of the frankfurter dates back over 500 years to its creation in the city of Frankfurt, Germany in 1487. Frankfurt even celebrated the 500th birthday of the frankfurter in 1987. However, there are some who dispute this history. Opponents claim that a chef from Frankfurt created the sausage while visiting Vienna (or Wien, hence the nomenclature, Wiener sausage). Others claim that it was created by Johann Georghehner in the 1600s in Coburg, Germany and called it the “dachshund sausage” then simply brought it to Frankfurt to promote his creation (according to hotdog.org).
Iconic New York Street Food | Hot Dog Culture in the Big Apple (Von Julian Adams - Adobe Stock)
Coming to America
No matter where or when the frankfurter appeared in Frankfurt, it eventually made its way to the United States to become a staple at barbeques and baseball games.
German immigrants began selling frankfurters in New York City from pushcarts in the 1860s.
In the 1890s, the frankfurter was popularized at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago and began to be sold at baseball games. It is said that the practice of selling them at baseball games started with a German immigrant and Saint Louis Brown Stockings (later Cardinals) baseball team owner, Chris Von de Ahe.
Another story says that Antonoine Feuchtwanger and her husband, a German immigrant sausage vendor, transformed the frankfurter into the American hot dog. Frankfurters were typically served with milk rolls and sauerkraut, or by themselves. As a street vendor, Feuchtwanger would offer his customers white gloves when serving frankfurters so they wouldn’t burn their hands. It was Antonoine who suggested to her husband that he serve the sausages in a split bun and low-and-behold what would eventually be called the hot dog was born.
Fun Frankfurter Facts
1. FDR served the King and Queen of England hot dogs during their royal visit.
2. Joey Chestnut holds the Guinness World Record for “Most hot dogs eaten at a Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest” with 76 hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes.
3. Buzz Aldrin Jr. and Neil Armstrong ate hog dogs on the moon.
