German cuisine widely available, but do not play an important role. Meat is usually braised; fried dishes also exist, but these recipes usually originate from France and Austria. Several cooking methods used to soften tough cuts have evolved into national specialties, including "Sauerbraten" (sour roast), involving marinating beef, horse meat or venison in a vinegar or wine vinegar mixture over several days. A long tradition of sausage-making exists in Germany; more than 1,500 different types of sausage () are made. Most "Wurst" is made with natural casings of pork, sheep or lamb intestines. Among the most popular and most common are "Bratwurst",
German Institute of Food Technologies Groningen, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), the DIL founded the ICCF (International Competence Center Food and Research Development) as research collaboration. This project was established to link closer cooperation and integration between the German and Dutch parts of the Ems Dollart Region. The German Institute of Food Technologies operates worldwide with customers from Japan, China, India, Australia and the USA. Among DIL's customers are global players such as Mars, General Mills and Barilla. HighTech Europe is an initiative of European research organizations, industrial associations and enterprises with the goal of setting up a European