Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WORLD’S BEST WURST
Nigel Thompson has a meat feast as he rounds up brilliant bangers
Sausages were invented out of necessity thousands of years ago, making use of every last scrap of butchered meat and preserving it by smoking and salting.
Evidence for bangers goes as far back as Mesopotamia pre-2000 BC and Greek epic poet Homer wrote about a kind of blood sausage in the Odyssey, penned in around the
8th century BC.
Today, the sausage is a much-loved global staple, with thousands of varieties ranging from Vigan longganisa to vegetarian and saveloy to sobrassada.
While coronavirus means international travel is off limits, we can still lick our lips and dream of the planet’s tastiest meaty treats.
After all, what’s the wurst that could happen?
CURRYWURST – GERMANY
Say “danke” to Herta Heuwer for this tangy fast-food joy dating from 1949.
The story goes that in post-war
Berlin the 36-year-old got some tomato ketchup from occupying British soldiers, mixed it with spices, poured it over chopped, grilled bratwurst pork sausages and started selling them as cheap, filling snacks at a street stand in the Charlottenburg district of the German capital.
Construction workers rebuilding the shattered city loved them... and so do millions of locals and visitors today.
You are usually served your currywurst together with fries on a paper plate with a little wooden fork – simple, cheap and absolutely delicious.
The now-closed Deutsches Currywurst Museum estimated that 800 million curry wursts are eaten every year in Germany, with 70 million in Berlin alone.
Best place to try: Curry 36 in Kreuzberg is legendary.
Tourist info: germany.travel
Tapas is surely a highlight of any trip to Spain and this rich, red, smoky sausage is a key player that comes in hundreds of varieties.
Spanish chorizo usually contains pork, garlic, smoked paprika and salt and it can be smoked, unsmoked, sweet or very spicy.
Even better, there are two main types – a larger dried one that is sliced like salami and a smaller, fresh one that is cooked before eating.
Which one do you prefer? In fact, why not have both?!
■ Best place to try: Granada in Andalusia, where they traditionally come free with your rounds of drinks.
■ Tourist info: spain.info