WineLovers Discussion Group

Jenise's post about English Bangers got me thinking about this. I added fresh to the title to differentiate cured or pre-cooked sausages, such as salami. hot dogs, etc. Perhaps my favorite is Italian sausage, both hot and mild, depending on the rest of the meal. I like them grilled, topped with peppers and onions on a crusty roll or baked until cooked, then added to spaghetti sauce in addition to or instead of meatballs. I also like Polish sausage, cooked up with saurkraut. Good quality versions of both of the above are readily available in local meat markets due to the ethnic backgrounds of many of the local residants. As I said in response to Jenise's post, there are local bangers that I like a lot, but I have yet to be impressed with a brat. And I must confess I've never had chorizo. Like Jenise, I also like Jimmy Dean's breakfast sausage, but I prefer a very simple recipe that I posted on the FLDG a few while ago.

For all my affinity to things German I never really liked Bratwurst. It always seemed just too fatty for me. Now, my absolute favorite is hot Italian sausage by which I mean a pork sausage with some chile flake which has a healthy dose of fennel in it. In fact, that's how I would differentiate an Italian sausage from your everyday pork sausage, the fennel. Of course, there are those who would beg to differ with my differentiation.

I'm fortunate to have a pretty good butcher who makes all sorts of sausages from lamb, pork and I think even chicken on occasion. While I am not a sausage expert (I do not care for the extremely spicy or the 'hot' styled sausages), I am quite partial to these sausages.

Can't say that I've tried any of the more well known brands in the grocery store, so can't help much there.

Mike

My favorite fresh sausage?

That's an easy one: Sweet Italian Sausage from Claro's Italian Market in SoCal. Quite possibly the best sausage I have ever tasted in these United States.


They ship, too:http://store.claros.com/

Merguez (North African or Spanish beef and mutton) if I can get it. Fresh homemade mild Italian (and I think the fennel is essential) is very tough to beat.

Another vote for Italian sausage, both sweet and hot. Sometimes for breakfast, I'll butterfly a few links, pan fry, and then top with a slice of provolone.

Have always added to spaghetti sauce. Since I have an amply supply of ground elk, courtesy of my husband's last hunt, I've been making sauce with the elk and adding the two types of Italian sausage.

Porkinson's Banger. Photographer Norman Parkinson's own recipe.

[img]http://www.handbag.com/graphics/library4/Porkinson-Bangers.jpg[/img]

Aidell's FRESH (not the pre-cooked ones Costco sells) chicken and apple sausage. And I've probably not had an English banger I like better than Marks and Spencer's sage and onion banger; I'm sure many others are as good or better, but in the town of Macclesfield where I lived these were the best available.

Like Jenise, I love Aidell's Chicken & Apple sausages, they're the only things that can beat an excellent Italian sausage (hot or mild). Used to get the absolute best hot Italian sausage from the Blacktalian, but since they've closed I've been making do with Publix store brand. At least they're made fresh in the store instead of being shipped in from God knows where. Wish there was a way to get Genaro's shipped down to me, but as of yet there doesn't seem to be a way.

Howie Hart wrote:Perhaps my favorite is Italian sausage, both hot and mild

Doesn't look like this thread has ignited much of a controversy.

I'm joining the Italian sausage choir, hot or mild, but it's got to have <i>some</i> chile flakes, and lots of fennel is mandatory. Some of the corporate commercial brands dumb it down, and that's not Italian. My favorite local food-specialty shop, Lotsa Pasta, makes an excellent version that I always keep frozen as one of my go-to staples for a quick meal. Cut one up - no need to thaw - cook 'em in their own fat with onions and green peppers, throw in a little fresh tomato sauce from the garden (or the same frozen in the off season). throw it over penne or other short pasta, and dinner is done.

Chris reminded me- the best sausage I've ever had, hands down, was elk. It was seasoned as hot Italian sausage, and I believe it was 100% elk meat. The burn was just perfect and the flavour complex and wonderful.

Robin Garr wrote:I'm joining the Italian sausage choir, hot or mild, but it's got to have <i>some</i> chile flakes, and lots of fennel is mandatory. Some of the corporate commercial brands dumb it down, and that's not Italian. My favorite local food-specialty shop, Lotsa Pasta, makes an excellent version that I always keep frozen as one of my go-to staples for a quick meal. Cut one up - no need to thaw - cook 'em in their own fat with onions and green peppers, throw in a little fresh tomato sauce from the garden (or the same frozen in the off season). throw it over penne or other short pasta, and dinner is done.

Hey, know another cool way to enjoy sausage and pasta? I grew up on Italian food at an L.A. institution called Little Joe's, it was just down the hill from Dodger Stadium--Tommy Lasorda practically lived there. Anyway, there were lots of "off the menu" ways to order food there, and one of my favorites was their spaghetti served with a patty of fried Italian sausage--they'd just peel off the skin, flatten it with a fork (so it would have lots of crispy high and tender low points) and pan fry, then put that on the plate and heap the pasta with marinara sauce alongside. I remember loving how the sausage was half buried and half exposed--little foodie in training that I was, I thought this was ingenious design, so used was I to my mother's three-plop everything-separate presentations--and I make the dish myself these days from time to time.