Breakfast Sausage: Patties or Links?
My mom served only patties when I was a kiddo, and now, perhaps in compensation, I'm preferrin' links.
Y'all?
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masha bousha
Mar 5, 2012 09:26 AM
Links all the way. They crisp up in a way that patties do not. Plus patties have a weird texture to me.
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Ah, a subject after my own heart. My preference is for ground sausage rather than links but depending on the situation or the brand, I will sometimes order links.
Also, I'm *very* particular when it comes to sausage. I'm trying very hard to avoid MSG and HFCS so I read labels like crazy.
The one ground sausage I have found that has none of either is Hormel and it is so low fat that if I'm making biscuits and sausage gravy, I have to add some bacon grease when I make my roux.
The other sausage I like is Bob Evans; lovely, lovely stuff. If I am at a Bob Evans restaurant I have to decide if I'm going to have patties or links. For use at home, though, I always buy the ground Hormel's sausage because it has so many uses.
I've recently started working part time doing grocery store demos for Aidell's sausage and I *love* their Chicken/Apple link sausage for breakfast, especially if I'm making a Fritatta (which spellcheck wants to change to "Frito"!)
›10 Replies-
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re: John E.
I don't care for turkey very much. Hormel usually fuel-injects its pork products. You have to buy their "all-natural" line to avoid chemical additives. This is enough to ring my alarm bell regarding general quality. Many stores around here don't even carry their tiny "all-natural" selection.
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re: sandylc
I know exactly what you mean. If you look it will often say "sold in a 14% solution of sodium Yuckinate" (or some other chemical) , purportedly to enhance the flavor. Enhance it by making it mushy and soapy tasting? Ugh no thanks.
It seems the vacuum sealed packages more often have this than the old style shrink wrap packages.
Smithfield is another company I that I find does this with a lot of their meat, and I find the taste disgusting. I always look for ones that are "minimally processed" and don't buy if I cannot find those.
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mamachef
Feb 23, 2012 08:37 AM
I prefer the humble patty sausage. I find it more dunkable. :) I can cut the pieces to fit the piece of pancake and egg that I'm going to dip in syrup. This thought reminds me of the scene in "Spinal Tap" when Nigel objects to the round cold cuts provided along with square bread. "What do you do with that?" I feel the same way about a little teeny round of sausage link as it compares to the rest of the food on the typical breakfast plate. "What do you do with that?"
But that's just me bein' weird.›1 Reply -
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re: INDIANRIVERFL
John E.
Feb 14, 2012 08:33 AM
I really like biscuits and gravy too. I recently saw some show with Bobby Flay where he really screwed up biscuits and gravy. He made biscuits, a sausage patty, and white pepper gravy WITHOUT ANY SAUSAGE. He then proceeded to place the sausage on the biscuit as if he were at McDonald's and poured some gravy on it.
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re: John E.
having not seen the segment you referenced,I really don't understand your diss in this case. He was just adapting the traditional recipe. Was his take for Throwdown challenge? As for the milk gravy, I'm no expert on Southern cooking, but isn't it traditionally made with black pepper? His white pepper inclusion was just another twist. Myself, I like milk gravy and could see why he did so......Peppered Milk Gravy is always applied to the Chicken Fried Steak I have always had and I cannot recall ever having Sausage gravy in place of....although I would love it if it were made with sausage gravy
My only real point, the McDonald's reference doesn't apply.. I believe they used to offer a Chicken Fried Biscuit for breakfast on a national promotion....as well as a similar option in Southern States regularly......they did not douse in any gravy, only butter on the biscuit.
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re: fourunder
Perilagu Khan
Feb 14, 2012 10:42 AM
I actually prefer the white gravy on biscuits without sausage mixed in. And that's the way it is typically served in west Texas and New Mexico. Now sausage (or bacon, or ham) on the side goes wonderfully with just plain ol' biscuits and gravy.
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re: John E.
Perilagu Khan
Feb 16, 2012 07:21 AM
I'm generally not a huge fan of bland food, but biscuits and cream gravy is an exception. That said, I like it rather peppery.
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re: John E.
I have had the "just white sauce" type of gravy quite a lot and been happy with it; in fact, that's what I grew up with. In my eyes, what Bobby failed to do was put pan drippings into his roux. He did a pure bechamel with butter, flour, milk, S & P. The main point of the gravy for biscuits from my perspective is the flavor from pan drippings.
Bobby put a lot of fresh garlic and quite a lot of onion powder in his sausage - it might be delicious, but not traditional middle-southern seasoning for breakfast sausage in my experience!
Since growing up I have switched to putting crumbled sausage in my gravy, and I like it much better. I haven't researched it to discover which is the original - sounds like an interesting thing to do.
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Patties for me, or else it's bacon. There's a Cajun butcher here who makes an incredible breakfast sausage. I buy it by the pound. Maybe they also stuff it in a casing, I don't know. I also have been told there are smokehouses/sausage makers throughout the Czech belt and in small German towns in Texas who make great breakfast links but I've never tried any. Breakfast links just make me think of Lil Smokies.
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Depends, sausage comes in many forms, but for breakfast:
Links with pancakes or waffles (maybe something from my youth)
Patties with hashbrowns, eggs
Chorizo, on occasion, or a b'fast sausage that I season with paprika, ancho chili powder, and cumin for b'fast burritos, heuvos rancheros.
Kielbasa with American fries, eggs
One of my favorite things in cooking school was our very short, brief unit on sausage making. We don't hunt, so haven't really made sausage like some folks, but I walk by the sausage making aisle of the sporting goods stores and drool. -
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re: sandylc
Perilagu Khan
Feb 13, 2012 11:32 AM
Mystery meat sausage is actually pretty rare in the US these days, unless you're talking about chorizo.
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re: sandylc
RealMenJulienne
Feb 15, 2012 06:19 AM
I disagree! Like baking, sausage making is a specialized art and I have no problem with a restaurant outsourcing its sausage production to a reputable maker, just as a fancy Parisian restaurant might get its bread from a local bakery. Many types of highly emulsified sausages like hot dogs are better made in a factory anyway.
To answer the original question, I prefer links for the snap of the casing, but too many places seem to just warm em up in hot water before serving. Either brown the links or don't waste my time!
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re: meatn3
gingershelley
Feb 14, 2012 10:15 AM
+1 on patties at breakfast; links are often cheap and greasy... my local grocery makes their own bulk sausage, which I buy for breakfast. A link is not on offer for this 'minnesota breakfast sausage". it is the the best! Lean (I actually have to grease the pan before cooking them so they don't stick!), flavorful, savory.
I think of link 'sausage' as more of the lunch/dinner types; bockwurst, bratwurst, knackwurst, and on and on...
Patties are a country American sausage style.
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re: Puffin3
John E.
Feb 14, 2012 07:50 AM
I would bet the sausage in the casing at a typical restaurant has also seen the freezer. They buy in bulk. When referring to a fresh sausage link, are you referring to an uncured, unsmoked sausage, because that is what fresh sausage is, such as bratwurst.
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Sausage patties tend to have a sharper and saltier flavor whereas links tend to be more mild and come in a wide range of flavors. I generally prefer a good link but have enjoyed patties in the past, and I agree with the above poster that they really aren't the same despite both being called sausages.
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Sausages come in links, with casings. Those salty pork patties are nice once in a while, but I can't really think of them as sausage.
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re: Scrofula
John E.
Feb 14, 2012 07:48 AM
The saltiness may have been your experience, but to not think of sausage out of a casing not as sausage is ridiculous. Sausage in casings is ground meat with spices stuffed into a casing. Don't stuff the mixture into a casing and form it into a patty, that does not change the fact that it is sausage.
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re: John E.
True, but I totally get where Scrofula is coming from. Its like saying a hot dog can be flat and disc-like because a hot dog is technically a sausage and can technically be made this way. But if you ordered a hot dog and got a flat round disc of hot dog, you'd probably be a little disappointed and not view it as a hot dog. And if you consider the definition of sausage to be any highly spiced minced meat product either in or out of a casing, are meatballs actually sausages? Are hamburgers actually sausages? Is donair meat actually sausage?
I associate sausage with links. I associate patties with, well, patties, not sausage. But I understand why you feel the way you do.-
re: freia
John E.
Feb 14, 2012 08:30 AM
A hamburger is not a sausage because a proper hamburger has none of the qualities of a sausage such as all the spices and mixed ground meat. If a hamburger does have all of then it IS a sausage and NOT a hamburger. If a sausage is round and not flat, then it IS a meatball and not a sausage. In my view a hotdog is not a hotdog until it is in a bun, until then it is a wiener. After all of this, a sausage in patty form is just as much of a sausage as one stuffed into a casing. I could make the argument to Scrofula that sausage meat in a casing is not sausage at all but a wiener. Of course all of this is personal opinion, until a butcher gets involved and educates all of us.
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re: sandylc
John E.
Feb 14, 2012 09:47 PM
The region I come from has nothing to do with my personal definition of the difference between a hotdog (wiener on a bun) and a wiener (a plain sausage commonly eaten on a bun, smaller than a Polish sausage). It all started several years ago with the Famous Nathan's (the ones sold in the store are not great) Independence Day "Hot Dog" Eating Contest. They were eating the buns and wieners separately so I decided then that a wiener not on a bun is just a wiener while a wiener on a bun is a hotdog. It is said with a smile but i suppose that does not always come across with the written word and I am not a frequent user of emoticons.
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re: John E.
Well, actually home made hamburgers and meatballs often have more spices than the average commercial sausage, with minced jalapeno peppers, sometimes curry powder, onion, salt, garlic, honey, parsley, rosemary, hot sauce and indeed are often made with mixed meats ground up. And a heavily seasoned, homemade hamburger with a variety of meats in the grind shaped flat, like a patty must therefore be a sausage.
However, turkey sausage in casings can't be sausage as they are fairly bland and there isn't a mix of meats ground up in them. And can there be vegetarian sausage then, by definition? No meat at all! And if you decase a vegetarian sausage and make it into a patty....well, I could go on forever, but I won't!
A weiner is a....drum roll...SAUSAGE. And can be eaten without the bun. A hot dog is also known as a weiner. You may be thinking of wurst of something, which is also sausage even though it isn't heavily spiced.
Personally, I think that the term sausage has become fairly colloquial. If you live in an area that serves breakfast sausage in patties routinely, or you purchase alot of breakfast sausage patties, you'll know this as sausage. If you are more familiar with sausage in link form, then that's what it is for you.
I live in an area where it is links ALL the way except for McDos breakfast sandwiches, and even then they aren't "sausage" as they are mostly filler with some mystery meat and are really bland.
All this to say that we know sausage when we see it, but the first thing that comes to mind is often a culturally referenced food.-
re: freia
gingershelley
Feb 14, 2012 04:33 PM
Perhaps we should lump all ground meat items; burgers, sausages, weiners, wursts, etc. into 'forcemeats", known by other names?
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re: sandylc
Perilagu Khan
Feb 14, 2012 03:03 PM
I believe it is spiced, ground meat used to make doner kebab. Indian or perhaps Middle Eastern.
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re: Perilagu Khan
You may also know it as the meat that goes in gyros -- Middle eastern heavily spiced ground lamb, placed on a vertical skewer and cooks as it rotates. When you order, it is sliced off into thin strips. So it meets the definition of being a heavily spiced minced meat not encased in a casing.:)
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re: sandylc
Doner is Turkish, pronounced donair. Sliced grilled meat, lamb often, cooked on a spit, served with grilled tomatoes, onions and sauce with pide, the Turkish version of pita, on the side. Gyro is the Greek version of doner, pork is often the meat in Greece. In the US, gyro usually involves minced lamb or lamb and beef, shaped into a cone and grilled on a spit, then shaved and served. Schwarma is a variation on doner as is al pastor. Only the US version of gyro meat has any similarity to sausage.
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re: sandylc
A donair (not doner) is a very popular food fast food in Halifax, where I live. It is based on one of the middle eastern spit cooked meats, but was created by a Lebanese (I believe) immigrant to Halifax in the 1970s. It is it's own unique and yummy beast, almos never done properly away from Haliafx according to us locals! A donair has a sweet sauce very unlike any other I've seen.
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re: John E.
Shape is sometimes one of the defining characteristics of a food. A salad with a slice of bread on the side is not a sandwich. Macaroni is not spaghetti. Non-sausage-shaped meat patties are not sausages.
Besides, the casing is important. It adds a nice snap to the texture, and keeps more of the juices in; this changes the experience of eating the sausage.
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re: Scrofula
Le Cordon Bleu Professional Cooking, 6th edition, defines sausage as "a mixture of ground meat, usually pork, and seasonings stuffed into a casing. The term sausage may also be used for the meat mixture itself, without the casing. Reduced to its simplest form, sausage meat may be nothing more than ground pork seasoned with salt."
Culinary Institute of America, Garde Manger: "the word sausage comes from the Latin word salsus, meaneing, "salted." That book goes on to say that sausage meat can be put into casings or be used in bulk (loose) form and made into patties.Go ahead and claim what you want. You might think that sausage must be in a casing. That's your right. But, you are not the authority I look to when defining cooking and or food terms.
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re: wyogal
Uh huh. And my dictionary defines sausage as 'a short cylindrical tube of minced pork, beef, or other meat encased in a skin, typically sold raw to be grilled or fried before eating.'. I don't claim or want to be some food definition police, so you can go on calling all ground meat 'sausage' if you like.
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re: Scrofula
Perilagu Khan
Feb 16, 2012 07:20 AM
Okay. So if you buy Italian sausage and remove the casings does it cease being sausage?
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re: Perilagu Khan
I wouldn't really think of it as being a sausage any more, but I would still call it 'Italian sausage' if I was sharing the recipe with someone, since that's more concise than saying 'ground pork with seasonings typically found in Italian sausage'. It's like calling people calling a certain Thanksgiving dish 'stuffing' even when it isn't stuffed into anything.
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