Lagniappe- An education on sausage

You know the stuff they sell at most grocery stores in the sausage section? Well, it’s not really sausage – it tastes more like boiled meat and I like to call it “weenie sausage” because it tastes just like I’m eating a hot dog. I know it seems like I’m writing a lot of carnivorous posts, but had to take a moment to enlighten the people who don’t know any better.

See my picture below – can you guess which one is the weenie sausage? (and yes, it’s by a major brand). In the picture I also have a nice smoked sausage and 3 uncooked sausages we decided to try.



The key characteristic of good tasting sausage is both the quality and grind of meat. When you look at it through the casing, there should be a good marbling (see the sausage above on the right). I know it sounds gross, but great sausage has about 25-30% fat.

I also just love the taste of a good smoke. Those raw sausages were good (the 3 on the left), but not great. They also took longer to cook because you have to make sure it’s cooked-through. For smoked sausage, you’re just heating it up since it’s already cooked.



If you live in Texas, you already have a great selection of sausage in the grocery store from Chapel Hill to Burton. For others, it’s a little harder. Take a while to browse the section. Now that you know what good sausage looks like, let your taste buds explore a little….