International Sausage Thread - what think you, and why?

[Pert_UK]

This thread was inspired today because the French market had come to town, bringing with them a bizarre and eclectic range of dried sausages, ranging from the traditional "pork sausage covered in crushed black pepper", through stag, wild boar, calvados and pork all the way up to emu sausage and.....I shit you not........donkey sausage.

Now, I've not tried it, but typing "donkey sausage" into Google must surely come up with some "not safe for work" results......But as I watched Shrek 2 yesterday I decided I couldn't stomach the donkey and stuck with "saucisson porc au poivre, sec".....

But anyway, here's my point.....I'm a big sausage fan. I love the traditional "English breakfast sausage", the Cumberland, the Lincolnshire, the Pork and Apple etc. I love haggis which is, when it comes down to it, a big fat sausage with extra heart, lungs and grains of some sort added. I even love crap stuff like hotdogs and the poncey stuff like wild boar and apple, venison or guinea fowl and ginger (as provided by my old butcher in Belsize Park, London). But more than that, I'm a "sausage tourist".......before you have me arrested, let me explain....

If I go on holiday somewhere reasonably different from my own home (the UK) the first item I will buy in the supermarket is the local sausage, preferably dried/cured. I will proceed to eat it with the local bread, washed down with the local beer or wine. We Brits (and you Americans) don't go in for dried sausage (served cold) so much, but obviously the Italians, Spanish, Danes and Germans are well up for it, and I've tried them all.......The Greeks love a good kabanos and a good deal of other sausages, and last year while travelling around China, I had the opportunity to buy oddly sweet dried sausage in Shanghai and fried blood & rice sausage on the streets of a tiny village in Yunnan province.

Sausages are, traditionally in the UK, the scrag-end cheap eats of the poorer members of society, usually containing arseholes, pig lips and sawdust. But go anywhere else in Europe and the sausages are fantastic, almost luxury items with complex flavours and characters.

So what do you think of sausages? Are they underrated? Do they give an insight into local cuisine and psyche, or are they just the mechanically reclaimed remnants scaped from the walls of the slaughterhouse? What's your favourite sausage of all time?

Personally, I LOVE spicy chorizo sausage, especially in a risotto with chicken because it turns the whole dish a rich colour and gives a wonderful flavour.

International sausage lovers unite!!! Tell me what bangers you bung on the barbie, what snags you snaffle and what franks you fry!

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Sausages of all manner are very dear to me ..........

My wife is a vegetarian (cuz she doesn't like meat and for no other real reason). Sausages play well in such an environment since they're not the objectionable part of the meat scene (no visible "raw meat" if you know what I mean).

In any case, I'm Italian. As such, sausages have always been a part of my life ... the kind you describe as "being up for". Dried sausages such as the many, many salamis, the raw sausages we often serve with macaroni, exotic and common, are all favorites of mine.

But there's more to sausages than the Italian variety. So many wonderful sausages that are commonly served cold. All over Europe we found them. The raw sausages that must be cooked and are usually served hot. I love your English "bangers". I always appreciated that, in European hotels where I've stayed, cold sausages of all manner are almost always a part of breakfast. You simply never see that in the US. Our cooked breakfast sausages are always good, and there are many wonderful types, but no one here does "salami" or "cold cuts" for breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, one of my favorites is an American sausage from the south. There are many varieties, but most of the better ones (to me at least) involve sage as a major seasoning. Eggs, grits, sausage and bisquits. Man, that's good!

Like you, when I visit a new country, or even a town in a country I have been to before, I especially enjoy finding their local sausage and eating with bread and the local brew/vintage. I also am always amazed, simply blown away, by European supermarkets. As an example, the Corte Inglais department store chain in Barcelona have supermarkets within. The sausage counter is easily as big or bigger than the whole meat department in a typical American supermarket.

I've tried my hand at sausage and salami making, too. My fresh sausages have generally been successes. My dried sausages ..... well ..... not as good. Edible, to be sure, but not nearly as well crafted as anything you buy in the stores.

I love a good sausage on the grill (barbie). No matter the type, they all taste wonderful. From a simple hot dog (especially those wonderful Kosher style all beef franks with the crunchy casing - usually from the New York area) to Italian sausages, German brats, to some of the more local artisanal sausages from exotic ingredients. They're all fun.

At its essential, I suspect sausages are so attractive to true aficionados because of their sheer variety. I also love that most of them have "big" flavors. Sure there are subtle sausages, but the fun ones, to me at least, are those who's flavor is just "out there" big.

You know, we could expand this thread and also talk about all cured meats ....... :hi:

(edited for fat fingered typos borne of a nagging hunger from somewhere!)

[Pert_UK]

7. Mmmmm....cured meats!

Gotta love parma ham, for starters!

I was in France recently and was lucky enough to get a fantastic spread of salads and cured meats for lunch every day - there were so many types of cured ham, I just didn't know where to start. Still don't know the names of any though.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i love sausage, dried, cooked, raw or however.. my favs are

kielbasa
pepperoni
red pepper chicken/turkey sausages
apple spice sausages
old fashioned ground sausage in my meatloafs

the list is endless......

[Neecy]

3. well...

My father was German, so sausage was a big part of the menu around here.

I still love blutwurst, despite the fact that yes, the ingredients are indeed disgusting to many. It probably is a remnant of a time when all parts of an animal were consumed, and indeed many were delicacies. Americans, on the whole, don't share this standard and that's why some of the pig-lips type of items aren't generally widely consumed here. So I'd say yes, sausage is an indicator of cuisine and psyche.

I cook 'em all the time. There's nothing better than chorizo and eggs, or any Italian sausage, or the old standard of bratwurst steamed in beer. Pure heaven.

[bearfan454]

4. My favorites are the dried sausages from Spain, fresh Polish

sausage from the Chicago area, and deer sausages. I hunt and take meat to a local processor. He makes deer hard salami, 50-50 jalapeno deer sausage and 50-50 spicy smoked deer sausage. He also makes a dried cured deer sausage, but that is too hard for my teeth now. Yes I love sausages.

[yellowdogintexas]

5. Central Market in Texas makes aaboaut 50 different kinds of

sausage in the store (rotated on a daily basis)

my favorites are the hot Italian, mild Italian (beef or pork),
Chicken curry sausage, brats, pork jalapeno/cilantro,
boudin, black pepper pork.

grew up on that wonderful home smoked pork sausage in the South,
lots of hot pepper and sage! The fresh version is excellent as well.


Jimmy Dean's LOL

[Pert_UK]

6. A sausage question....do you have to cook chorizo?

I ask because although I do cook with it from time to time, I quite often just hack off a bit to eat with a beer, or serve it as part of tapas........Well the last chorizo I had definitely had a softer, more flexible texture to it, far more like a raw traditional British sausage then the harder chorizo I'm used to. I don't know whether I got an odd one, or if some chorizos need cooking and others don't or what?

So.....have I been eating raw, uncured pork?

[Dora]

9. heat it up!

Better to be safe than sorry.

I love chorizo and eggs with a nice side of refried beans (of pudding consistency) made with a touch of lard or bacon grease, and a corn tortilla for mopping up the mess.

[Pert_UK]

8. Andouillettes dijonnaise....."chitterling" sausages.

I had some of these last time I was in Paris....Now, most sausages are made from minced up guts as well as reasonable cuts of meat, but these babies were proper gut sausages. You could really taste the stronger, darker flavour of the sausages and the texture certainly involved various lumps and "tubes" that you don't normally find in a sausage.

I wouldn't buy these very often, but I do like to try the more traditional, more "challenging" dishes on offer when I'm abroad. Anybody else think they'd like them? Any offal fans out there?

[Kellanved]

10. no thanks

Ordered them once at a restaurant, won't do it again.

[mrbassman03]

11. Yeah! Uli's Sausage in Pike Place Market...

They have a huge selection, and some very spicy sausage. Apple chicken and the chorizo are my favorite. The best part is they will grill you up any of their sausage right there and put it on a bun for a great price. Anyway, definitely something to check out.

[anakie]

12. we have a great local butcher who makes his own

current favourite is his chicken and mango closely followed by beef, honey and macadamia. mmmmmmm. Gourment sausages are really making a splash in Australia at the moment. Lots of great varieties.