Original Wiener Frankfurter Sausage

The butcher Johann Georg Lahner is considered to be the inventor of the Wiener Frankfurter Würstel. The handsome man came to Vienna because of love, where he initially hired himself as a butcher servant.

Aufhackknecht im Gespräch mit Bluemfrau

In 1804, after completing his master’s examination, he was able to open his own butcher’s shop with the help of a 300 guilder loan to a wealthy countess.

Lahner also began producing frankfurters in Vienna, which were still relatively unknown in Vienna at the time. But the rustic sausage, which was also very salty and smoky, was not recognized in Viennese society.

Consequently, he further refined the Frankfurter sausage by adding beef to the pork common in the Frankfurter sausages, something that he could only do in Vienna, where he was not subject to the strict Frankfurter sausage law, according to which a butcher was only allowed to offer meat from one animal species.

Lahner used the small intestine of the sheep as a casing for the new Frankfurter sausage in Vienna because, in Lahner’s view, this caused an appetizing crack when biting into them.

This refinement of the Frankfurter sausages was also necessary for the palate of the pampered Viennese society because they were so fond of their beef.

Lahner called his sausage creation „Wiener Frankfurter Würstel“ in memory of his journeyman days in connection with the mention of the place of origin of the new Frankfurter Würstel.

Thanks to their fluffiness, the “Wiener Frankfurter Würstel” soon became so popular that Lahner was even able to present his specialty to Kaiser Franz I. at court in the Hofburg and then also deliver it daily.

Emperor Franz I. is said to have enjoyed the Viennese Frankfurter sausages for a so called fork breakfast, which is a small meal between breakfast and lunch, still common in Vienna of these days.

Because “Frankfurter sausages” are protected as a regional specialty in Germany and can only come from the area around Frankfurt am Main, the Viennese Frankfurter sausages are called Wiener sausages all over the world and only in Vienna they are called Frankfurters.

A nephew of Lahner went to the United States of America, where he developed the „Frankfurter“ to „Hot Dogs“.

Viennese Frankfurters

Frankfurters in Vienna are eaten with mustard and horseradish together with a crispy roll.


Freshly reamed

What is horseradish used for?