When I think of New York City, I think of those big, warm soft pretzels you eat with sharp mustard! Yum! It’s my favorite New York snack.

When I think of Germany, it’s those little Schnell Imbiss (snack) stands where you can order my favorite German street food, Currywurst mit Kartoffelsalat. Oh, and a nice local lager to wash it down.

Typical of street food, it is simple, highly caloric, tasty, and not what the doctor ordered: a plump sausage smothered in a curry-flavored ketchup and a heaping serving of German-style potato salad.

I have no idea what kind of sausage those smooth, white Berlin-style sausages are, what I think of mostly when I think of Currywurst, but who cares when you can eat it made with a juicy Bratwurst as well? They are more substantial anyway, and street food is all about loading up!

Potato salad is simple to make with potatoes and whatever ingredients one has on hand. I like to make it with mayonnaise, dill weed, salt, and pepper. I might shred some carrot and add that for color, a little crunch, but it doesn’t affect the basic goodness of this favorite food. This is closer to what I remember about Schnell Imbiss stand potato salad than typical American style potato salad with chopped eggs, pickles, chopped onions, Miracle Whip, salt and pepper, maybe some plain old French’s yellow mustard for a little more piquancy.

However one makes potato salad, though, I love it!

Currywurst recipes on the Internet run the gamut. I suspect the curry sauce is like barbecue sauce over here: Everyone makes it using his Großmutter‘s secret family recipe. Everyone except people like me looking for a quick Currywurst fix. I bought some curry-flavored German ketchup off the Internet and some sharp German mustards I remember from my days stationed in Germany in the US Army: You can have your sausages both ways! I decided to have one Currywurst and one plain Bratwurst dipped in German mustard. Mmmm! A double treat! Filling! Worth the extra effort for a little authenticity!

Sorry about all those exclamation points, but I do like my Currywurst. That’s what I had for supper yesterday, though I cubed, boiled, and dressed potatoes with salt, pepper, dill weed, and butter instead of fixing potato salad. I boiled some peas toward the end with the potatoes. Mixed with the cubed potatoes, they added a bit of sanity to an otherwise unwise fat, sugar, and salt burdened meal.

I had plain ice water to drink, further penance for my indiscreet but tasty meal.