Vienna sausage

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North American vienna sausage in tomato sauce

A Vienna sausage (Viennese/Austrian German: Frankfurter Würstel or Würstl, Swiss German Wienerli, Swabian: Wienerle, and German: Wiener Würstchen, Wiener) is a kind of wiener. The word wiener means Viennese in German.

In many European countries any pre-cooked and sometimes smoked wieners bought fresh from supermarkets, delicatessens and butcher shops are called vienna sausage. Wieners sold as vienna sausage in Europe have a taste and texture very much like North American hot dogs or frankfurters but are usually longer and somewhat thinner, with a very light, edible casing. European vienna sausage served hot in a long bun with condiments is often called a hot dog, harking not to the wiener itself, but to the long sandwich as a whole.

In North America the term vienna sausage has most often come to mean only smaller and much shorter smoked and canned wieners, rather than hot dogs. North American vienna sausage is made from meat such as chicken, beef, turkey and pork (or blends thereof) finely ground to a paste consistency and mixed with salt and spices, notably mustard, then stuffed into a long casing, sometimes smoked and always thoroughly cooked, after which the casings are removed as with hot dogs. The sausages are then cut into short segments for canning and further cooked.

As with any sausage, the ingredients, preparation, size and taste can vary widely by both manufacturer and region of sale.

See also

• canned food
• Potted meat food product

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