Germany
The place to talk/ask about stuff in Germany in English.
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Wurst is traditionally not really a street food. Bratwurst is to be eaten on a plate with knife and fork acompanied by potatoes and veggies of some description. Preserved Wurst like smoked Mettwurst is dry and can be eaten without holding it in any kind of bun. Boiled wurst like Bockwurst or Wiener Würstchen are cooked in a soup or stew.
So traditionally there was no need to have a fitting bun for the Wurst. Bratwurst in a bun is a relatively new thing (post war I'd guess) and germans just made it work with the buns that were available anyway. People got used to that, so nobody saw a need for any different kind of bun.
That's my personal take, so take it with a grain of salt.
What do you mean by traditionally?
For the last 50 years you can get Bratwurst or Polish sausage in a „Brötchen“ to go at pretty much every foodtruck.
And same goes for Currywurst with fries. This is an German classic Bratwurst-to-go dish.
German Wurst-Tradition does not start 50 years ago. More like 500.
Your take on Wurst has no relevance for OP if by traditionally you mean 500 years ago. Who cares about 500 years ago? He wants to talk about recent events and you are here giving him a history lesson. 500 years ago NO MEAT was street food because most people were too poor to eat meat regularly. Of course you would treat eating meat like a special event.
You merely adopted the Wurst. I was born in a Metzgerei, moulded by it...
Ich nehme lieber den Gewürzketchup.
Ich bin ein Freund des Löwensenfs. Extra scharf.
That makes sense
Bratwurst is to be eaten on a plate with a knife and fork? You're free to do whatever you want, but as a Thuringian I beg to differ.
Bratwurst in a half cut bun, or gtfo.
As a German I think of American hot dogs as disgusting sausage wrapped in disgusting bread.
Right, but here is a real opportunity to make it into something great. Also, not all American hot dogs are terrible, you just need to know a good place ;)
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.
Because hot dog buns taste like shit. Sugary like cake and a consistency of marshmallows. Germans like real bread.
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.)
Thanks for the detailed answer!
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.
What?! =)
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)
Because they are fucking disgusting
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)
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.
Yeah, of course, the shape. And you are correct, I am talking about my experience in Bavaria, thanks for pointing out the regional differences.
There are some valid points in here already, but I'd also like to add that many places offer a wider variety than just a single type of sausage (different sizes, Leberkäse, meatballs...). Instead of having buns for each you just get a normal one. Sometimes you even get sausages and the bun seperately on a small cardboard tray so you can dip them in e.g. mustard.
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.
I know what you're talking about, I heard the term "French dog". It's less messy than the usual hot dog, but you cannot put more toppings inside
in the States we sometimes call the sausage in a bread roll a "pig in a blanket".. especially if the blanket is a pancake..
If you want a hot dog get a hot dog.
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.
Just get a long baguette, then cut it up based on the length of the sausages. I aim to get a round number from the baguette while erring on the shorter side. I like it when the sausage sticks out a bit from both sides.