Bosna

Bosna is a grilled sausage in a split roll, topped with curry powder, mustard and chopped onion. It's Austrian street food, and despite the name, it's honest to say it wasn't imported from Bosnia — most accounts trace it to a Salzburg snack stand in the mid-twentieth century, with the name most likely chosen to sound exotic rather than to credit an actual Bosnian recipe.

What it actually is

A grilled sausage, usually a thin, spiced variety, sits inside a split white roll, topped generously with curry powder, a stripe of mustard and finely chopped raw onion. Some versions add a scatter of parsley or a thin ribbon of mayonnaise, but curry powder, mustard and onion together are the fixed core the name specifically refers to.

The curry powder on top is what separates Bosna from an ordinary sausage sandwich. Without it, the same grilled sausage in a roll is just a Wurstsemmel — a plain sausage roll — rather than specifically a Bosna, which the curry topping is understood to define.

How it's served

• Hot, straight off the grill, in a split roll, eaten by hand.
• As street food, from dedicated stands and snack bars (Würstelstand).
• With curry powder, mustard and onion, the fixed combination the name refers to.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag gluten from the roll and mustard.
• Say that it's an Austrian invention, not a Bosnian import, if a guest asks about the name.
• Note the curry powder topping, since it's what specifically distinguishes it from a plain sausage roll.
• Mention which sausage is used, since the type affects both flavour and spice level.