Pylsa
Pylsa / Pylsur
Capital Region, Iceland
Iceland's national hot dog. A slim, snappy red link made from a blend of lamb, pork, and beef — the lamb does most of the work — simmered briefly in water with beer or stock, served on a soft warm bun with raw white onion, crispy fried onion, ketchup, remoulade, and a sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep. Ordered at the kiosk window with two words: eina með öllu, 'one with everything'. Eaten standing up, in any weather.
History
Iceland imported the sausage from Danish settlers and German traders in the late 19th century but built it into something of its own. Sláturfélag Suðurlands, the South Iceland slaughterhouses' co-op known as SS, was founded in 1907 and over the decades came to produce the lamb-pork-beef pylsa that holds roughly 80 percent of the country's market today. The version Reykjavík eats was set in 1937, when Jón Sveinsson opened a small kiosk on Austurstræti selling SS sausages to dockworkers and theatre crowds. The stand later moved two streets north to Tryggvagata in the 1960s, where it still operates as Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. Jón's granddaughter Guðrún Björk Kristmundsdóttir ran it until her death in September 2025; her son Baldur Ingi Halldórsson is now the fourth-generation owner. Bill Clinton ordered one with mustard only in 2004 — the order has been called a 'Clinton' ever since. Anthony Bourdain stopped by during the first season of No Reservations and called it 'good drunk food'. The full topping order — ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade, raw onion, crispy onion — was standardised at that window and copied across every other pylsa stand in the country.
Ingredients
Preparation
Bring water to a low boil with a splash of dark Icelandic beer. Drop the sausages in, lower to a gentle simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. The skin should be tight and just shy of bursting. Steam the bun over the same pot for the last 30 seconds. Build from the inside out: spread remoulade across the bottom of the bun, lay the sausage, then squeeze sweet brown pylsusinnep down one side, ketchup down the other, finish with a heavy handful of crispy fried onions and a smaller spoon of raw onion on top. Eat immediately, standing up.
Taste
Lamb up front — a slightly grassy, mineral taste you don't get in a frankfurter — softened by the pork fat and the beef savoury. The pylsusinnep brings a malty sweetness like dark German mustard. Remoulade carries dill and capers. Raw onion sharp on top, crispy onion buttery underneath. The whole thing eats salty, sweet, and bright in alternating bites.
Texture
Fine emulsion, almost frankfurter-smooth, with a tight natural casing that snaps when you bite. The bun is soft, faintly steamed, almost milk-bun. The crispy fried onions add the only true crunch.
Rituals & Traditions
Eina með öllu
Two words at the window, 'one with everything'. The standard order: ketchup, pylsusinnep, remoulade, raw onion, crispy onion. Saying it correctly identifies you as someone who has at least read a guidebook.
Put the remoulade under the sausage
The traditional build-order is sauces at the bottom of the bun, sausage on top, onions and mustard above. Putting remoulade on top is a tourist tell.
Don't ask for ketchup-only
Locals quietly disapprove. The whole point is the five-topping balance. Skip the remoulade if you must, but the pylsusinnep is not optional in any Icelandic household.
