Why is it called beef on weck

“Kummel” is German for caraway, and “weck” for roll. The long name, which is cumbersome, has been shortened to “Weck”. The salt is a vital part to this sandwich as it delivers a lot of the seasoning in place of salting the beef itself. The top of the bun is normally dipped in the au jus as they build the sandwich.

Although it’s unclear who first sold the beef on weck in Buffalo, the history of the sandwich leads back to a man named William Wahr, a German baker from Bavaria, who brought the kummelweck roll with him to the states in the late 1800s.

Sharing is caring! A beef on weck (also known as beef on wick) is a sandwich found primarily in Western New York, specifically in the Buffalo region. What separates this hot roast beef sandwich from a French dip is the roll.

kummelwecknoun. A salty bread roll topped with caraway seeds and often served with thinly sliced roast beef, popular in western New York. Etymology: Kümmel, “caraway”, and weck, “roll” (in south-western dialects).

Kümmel is the German word for caraway, and Weck means “roll” in the south-western German dialects of Palatinate, the Saarland, Baden and Swabia areas (northern Germans generally say Brötchen).

I’m Charles W.Roesch, better known as Charlie the Butcher and proud to be a part of Buffalo. As times have changed, so have we.