Currywurst Braised with Cabbage, Onions, and Beer.

Currywurst is a German street-food classic consisting of a sliced sausage drenched in curry ketchup. This twist levels it up to a full meal by braising the sausage in curry-ketchup-laced beer, along with charred cabbage and onions.

Serves 4

Curry Ketchup
6 garlic cloves
3 tbsp yellow curry powder
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tbsp evoo
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tsp worcestershire
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


Currywurst Braise
4 German or Austrian sausages - Kasekrainer, Bratwurst, Knockwurst
1 small-medium cabbage
1 yellow onion
2 tbsp evoo
1 lager style beer, preferably German
Curry Ketchup

TL;DR

• Preheat your oven to 400º

• Sear sausages in castiron, remove and set aside

• Cut cabbage into wedge quarters and sear, remove and set aside

• Cut onion into wedge eighths and sear, remove and set aside

• Arrange cabbage, onions and sausages in braising dish

• Smear with curry ketchup and pour in beer

• Braise for around 20 minutes until cabbage is tender

• Cut sausages and serve

The Deets

Preheat your oven to 400º.

Begin by grabbing your trusty castiron pan and putting it over medium heat. Sear your 4 whole sausages on both sides until they have a nice burnished dark strip on each side.

Meanwhile cut your cabbage into wedge quarters, and cut your onion into wedge eighths. Remove your sausages from the pan and set them aside. Then bring 1 tbsp evoo to a shimmer in your pan and add the cabbage. Cook undisturbed for a minute or two until, when you lift one to peek, it is very browned. It should be quite a deep brown, very nearly burnt. Flip and do the same to the other side, then remove and set aside.

Add the other 1 tbsp of evoo to the pan and sear the wedges of onion in the same procedure as the cabbage.

While you are doing all this searing, begin preparing your curry ketchup. Heat 1 tbsp of evoo in a small saucepan. Grate your 6 cloves of garlic and add them to the pot. Sauté them briefly and then add the 3 tbsp of yellow curry powder. Toast the curry powder with the sautéing garlic for a minute or two, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Then add all the other ingredients (1/2 cup ketchup, 1 tbsp evoo, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 3 tsp worcestershire, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper) and let them simmer together until the searing is done.

A quick note on curry powder. Currywurst is a German post-war creation in which ketchup and curry powder were combined and put on sausages to great success. And that curry powder was the yellow British type that has only very distant similarities to traditional South Asian spice mixes. This curry powder doesn’t have a super defined recipe and can vary widely based on where you get it, and in most contexts I would avoid using a pre-made mix, especially one steeped in such a history of colonialism. But Curry Ketchup is quite simply delicious, and using a premade mix is true to it’s origin, as well as allowing this to be a quick weeknight meal and giving you a reason to use up that random jar of curry powder in the back of your pantry that your Aunt gave your for Christmas (or something).

Arrange your cabbage, onions and sausages in your braising dish. This can be a dutch oven, a baking dish, or something cute and fancy like this Dansk dish I used here, as long as it is deep enough and oven safe. Smear the curry ketchup over the top of the cabbage, and sausages. Then pour the 1 lager style beer into the braising dish, attempting not to entirely wash the ketchup off the top of the sausages.

Pop your braising dish into the oven and cook for around 20 minutes until the cabbage is tender and the liquid reduced.

Slice each sausage and serve with some extra scharff mustard.