Frankfurter

Frankfurter, also called wiener, or (in the United States) hot dog,  highly seasoned sausage, traditionally of mixed pork and beef. Frankfurters are named for Frankfurt am Main, Ger., the city of their origin, where they were sold and eaten at beer gardens.

Frankfurters are sold ready-cooked and lightly smoked, either loose, vacuum-packed, or canned, to be heated by grilling, steaming, or gentle, brief boiling (frying makes them tough). The German and Austrian frankfurter also is known as a würstchen, or “little sausage,” and many varieties of these sausages exist. In Germany and Austria, frankfurters are eaten warm with sauerkraut and cold, if lightly smoked, with potato salad. Nutritionally, the typical American frankfurter is about 55 percent water, 28–30 percent fat, and 12–15 percent protein. All-beef or turkey frankfurters are also produced, as are versions with reduced fat content. Most commercially marketed frankfurters contain nitrates or nitrites of sodium or potassium, which prevent the growth of the botulism-causing bacterium, Clostridium botulinum, and preserve the meat’s characteristic reddish colour, which would otherwise be lost in processing.

source: britannica

History of the Frankfurter

There are two stories behind the Frankfurter Würstchen.

The Germans claim to have first created the Frankfurter Würstchen in 1562. For the feast at the coronation of Maximilians II, an ox was stuffed with sausages for additional flavoring. This sausage was called "Bratwerscht," and its popularity spread to other countries. It was actually outside of Germany where the name "Frankfurter" came from. In 1749, the first recipe for the Frankfurter Bratwurst was set in print.

The second story gives credit to the Austrians. In 1805, the Austrian butcher Johann Georg Lahner, who learned to be a butcher in Frankfurt, created a sausage out of pork and beef. He called this sausage "Frankfurter."

Source: germanfoodguide