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 cuisine usually made of ground pork and spices, the "Wiener" (Viennese), which may be pork or beef and is smoked and fully cooked in a water bath, and "Blutwurst" (blood sausage) or "Schwarzwurst" (black sausage) made from blood (often of pigs or geese). Thousands of types of cold cuts also are available. There are many regional specialties, such as the "Münchner Weißwurst" (Munich white sausage) popular in Bavaria or the "Currywurst" (depending on region, either a steamed pork sausage or a version of the "Bratwurst", sliced and spiced with curry ketchup) popular in the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Hamburg and the