Same and different at the same time.

I was munching on a hotdog in Ikea last week and a question popped into my head.

What exactly is the difference between a hotdog, a wiener, a sausage and a frankfurter?

The more I thought about it, the more confused I got. This is what I arrived at after some pondering in Ikea.

Sausages is the generic term used by the English to call meat that has been packed into a casing. If meat not packed in a casing, they are not not considered sausages right? More like meatloaf and pate. Anyway, the casings are traditionally made from the animals intestines, and it was a good, not to mention economical way of preserving less than good looking parts of the animal. The butchers would season those meat and fats heavily and smoke them. These days however, it has become much of a starring item on meal plates as many other cuts of meat as well.

Hotdogs are sausages in a bun. That is the only time when you can call a sausage a hotdog. I always associate those red long ones that come out of cans with hotdogs. Those that don't exactly taste much like meat, like the one I had in Ikea. The humble hotdog is an American institution! Cheap and trashy, but still nonetheless irresistible! A Frankfurter is a sausage from Frankfurt. Like Champagne, sparkling white wines from the Champagne region in France and no where else can be called that. Thinking about that,Viennese sausages should be from Vienna in Austria right, just like how wieners are Austrian.

The Chinese have Lap Cheong, The French call theirs saucisson, the Germans eat wurst and let's not forget about salami. The Spanish and Italians love their sausages, though I have no idea what they call it. One thing for sure, a sausage by any other name is just as savoury.