HOPE AND SAUSAGE!

A guest article by Martin Stein.

Every city needs lighthouses, whether it is by the sea or not. As landmarks, but also as symbols of hope: for tourists as well as for the locals, to be a light in the darkness in stormy, dark times. Traditionally, of course, these are often churches or rival towers, magnificent buildings of any provenance, as long as they are towering. Regensburg is not short of towers, but sometimes a little light shines from a very inconspicuous hut.

Especially in this winter, which for well-known reasons is a little darker than usual, a certain hut shines a little brighter than it already does, and the light says: Come to me, you who wander aimlessly through this time and its alleys, and I will refresh you so that it may be well with you.

In the contemporary standard language translation, this invitation reads as follows: Stop by and buy yourself a Knackersemmel.

The hut in question is the sales stand of the Reisinger sausage roastery on Neupfarrplatz, and it sells the legendary Regensburg Knackersemmel. The Knacker or Regensburgersemmel is an inconspicuous food at first glance, but its importance is in no way inferior to the much better-known Nuremberg sausage, Wiener Schnitzel or New York hot dog. But nobody knows that. Probably because the Upper Palatinate is very modest by nature and we in Regensburg have already become far too famous anyway. Everything is so colorful here. You can hardly go shopping in your jogging bottoms anymore without fear of ruining someone’s vacation photo. And for all the pride we take in internationally renowned star chefs, we are also happy here about such restrained, unobtrusive food as this culinary takeaway.

The foundation stone of Knackersemmel was laid in 1946, when the great-grandparents of the current owners set up a sausage roasting business. The year is significant: after the war, people needed hope. And sausage. Which was sometimes synonymous back then. And it doesn’t hurt to remember that time now either, precisely because there are now far too many people who misinterpret what they are going through as hardship.

The actual Knackersemmel came about ten years later, and these ten years were enough for a stage of development which, in its perfection, represents the end of all possibilities for improvement. Like the invention of the wheel, so to speak. It never gets any rounder.

There are various ways to eat a Knackersemmel, but there is only one correct way, so don’t let anyone tell you: “with everything.” “Everything” here means with gherkin, sweet mustard and horseradish. That’s everything, and everything also means that something is missing if you leave out the horseradish, for example. The culinary composition is thrown out of balance, and although the Reisingers naturally also fulfill such absurd customer requests, there can be no doubt that a culinary sacrilege is being committed, similar to eating a veal sausage with ketchup or frying a steak.

Bread roll, sausage, horseradish, gherkin, sweet mustard.

If you don’t like it – blame yourself and nowhere else.

Regensburg in winter tends to be a gloomy foggy hole; go to the Reisingers and get a little warmth and sunshine wrapped in aluminum foil. A few meters further on, Catholics can find solace in Regensburg Cathedral; the Reisinger sausage fry-up is, of course, somewhat inferior in terms of architecture and significance. However, its significance for the people should not be underestimated: much more than just a snack is served through the window, but rather a warm host across all denominations. Perhaps not quite with the potential (and the claim) of a world religion, but with a significantly higher nutritional value.

Dear Martin, thank you very much for the wonderful article! All readers should listen to Martin’s podcast “Herr Stein rät”. And, of course, a Knackersemmel at Neupfarrplatz.

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