breakfast or smoked ?

[calvin]

something that has always kinda been confusing to me , i call "breakfast " sausage any sausage thats a patty and others link or smoked , other people
seem to use the term breakfast interchangeably , i use "smoked " sausage in a lot of ways , anything from just on a bun to cut up in red beans and rice

[Dave in AZ]

calvin
Interesting post on the words we use, and kinda important for a sausage f***m too! Thx for the topic to think about!

Here’s my take… I’d guess your breakfast word usage is in minority and may not convey the info you intend, then. If you just told me you cooked some breakfast sausage, I would actually assume 21mm links in sheep casings with light sage. Breakfast sausage patty would be Jimmy Dean stuff.
Here is what I perceive to be standard usage:
For shapes: patty, linked (which is assumed from word sausage if no other adjective is given), unlinked or roll
For curing/cooking: fresh, or smoked. This is kinda interchangeable with a cured flavor profile too, as smoked sausages use some cure1 to protect from botulism during long cook process below 130f pathogen lethality temp.
For flavor profile:

1. Breakfast, I believe the #1 sold sausage in USA, is a sage/salt/pepper/red pepper profile usually. Dominant being sage.
2. “Smoked” flavor is a cured pork, so hammy profile, with just salt and pepper. If labeled “Hot smoked” then cayenne or red pepper is added. Sometimes beef added.
3. Polish Smoked or Kielbasa profile is cured pork, salt, pepper, garlic, marjoram.
4. Italian is pork, salt, pepper, fennel, red pepper depending on hot or sweet.
5. Brats… too varied a flavor profile now to guess folk’s intent and usage without details. Could be literally anything, so I perceive it to mean a fresh sausage in a 32-34mm hig casing, linked at 5-7" long.

Anyways, those are the main words I’ve seen and am familiar with that I think have clear accepted use definitions.

[processhead]

Breakfast sausage in the US has traditionally been a fresh, unsmoked, uncured pork product that could be in the form of patties, links or bulk packed. I think Dave in AZ has the seasoning profile pretty well nailed.

Personally I have never seen or tasted a cured or smoked breakfast sausage, but someone somewhere may have made one and I just don’t know about it.

[zbigjeff]

processhead Around the country in almost any restaurant, breakfast sausage is either a fresh patty or short link with either sage or maple or, … Period. But, there is really no rules when it comes to people on this or any other food site. They eat a variety of sausage variations in bulk and larger cased sausages for breakfast. To each their own. I do agree with all of you guys when it comes to “standard”.

[processhead]

zbigjeff said in breakfast or smoked ?:

processhead Around the country in almost any restaurant, breakfast sausage is either a fresh patty or short link with either sage or maple or, … Period. But, there is really no rules when it comes to people on this or any other food site. They eat a variety of sausage variations in bulk and larger cased sausages for breakfast. To each their own. I do agree with all of you guys when it comes to “standard”.

Yes, I would agree that the rules have morphed over the last 30 years and consumers and producers alike are willing to make and eat products that deviate outside of the standard definitions.

[calvin]

i agree with everything above haha, thats why i started this conversation,
when i read a post that mentions "breakfast sausage " my mind goes to a patty or the small casingless links, what i think is not always right ( like thats a big suprise huh )
and until i really got into making sausage , i like most people, didn’t know one smoked sausage from another thats why i think as sausage makers we need a little clarity
i do make smoked sausage ( southern style ) patty sausage ( again southern style ) polish sausage, Italian sausage ( for pizza ) i make both mild and hot versions of all i mentioned but thats about as far as i have ventured into sausage making

[Dave in AZ]

calvin too true! I make a super spicy sausage for breakfast burritos. I thought I was making chorizo, fresh patty style with cayenne, vinegar, etc. Then one day I made Filipino longaniza, and I was like, “Waaaiiiit a second, this is the same!” Lol. For every one sausage style and flavor profile, 10 countries will have their own name for it. They might have very slight variations like grind size. And then sausagemakers will make 50 other things not even close, and call it the same name lol.

While I am 100 % for creativity and personal taste in cooking, I do think many folks play pretty loose with names and taxonomy, and give more regard to making an impressive sounding name than actually conveying accurate info via proper name choice.

I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I add in an ingredient I know will have little detectable flavor, just so I can include it in my dish name heh! “Eggs benedict with Key Lime hollandaise and Black Truffle Coriander salt”. No wait, all those ingredients were important there…

Heh.

[processhead]

I am all for experimentation and creativity, but sausage names become meaningless if they don’t define a known definitive style.
Please don’t call it summer sausage just because it has meat, apricots, msg, and dried grape leaves in it.

[calvin]

well i do think when i said " smoked sausage southern style " i pretty well defined what i was referring to for this reason : its the only place that i have ever found it to exist
i think thats why so many people here in colorado want what we make …they have never tasted anything like it, my wife is from Michigan and once she tasted it ,she flat out refuses to eat any other type of sausage so it has to be a southern thing

[calvin]

Dave in AZ i see nothing wrong with adding your special touch to any sausage and calling it your version of whatever kind it is
the southernstyle smoked sausage we make i have freinds that want it super hot so i add habanero to it and call it my super hot southern smoked sausage haha

[bocephus]

processhead We always had a ring of smoked deer sausage with Sunday breakfast. Always looked forward to that, but I do agree that most people think of the small fresh links or patties as breakfast sausage.

[Departing Contestant]

If I eat a brat at 6:00 in the morning with a glass of milk, it is a breakfast sausage

[processhead]

Departing Contestant said in breakfast or smoked ?:

If I eat a brat at 6:00 in the morning with a glass of milk, it is a breakfast sausage

What do you call a brat when you have it at lunch time?

[calvin]

a spoiled brat !!!

[Departing Contestant]

processhead probably cold

[calvin]

when i started wanting to make "polish sausage " i started looking on the web for recipes , i soon discovered that i could put dang near anything in them and still call them "polish " they were 1000s of recipes and all different , so i chickened out and went with a premix

[sheleyp1]

I always think of breakfast sausage as fitting on a biscuit. Pattes sliced from a role, hot, mild but good (yes Sage). Links, I Think bun and grill. Take a look at the link below it will show you sausage is enjoy around the world.

https://www.premiofoods.com/different-types-of-sausage-around-the-world/

[calvin]

thats a pretty good read , i have lived in the new orleans area and and the artical mentions that cajon sausage is made with wine, and that maybe true but i don’t recall ever tasting wine in any that i ever ate , it could be that it was made using wine and i just couldn’t taste it ,one of my best freinds was cajon to the bone and boy could that man cook !! but i didn’t eat anything he cooked unless i watched what he put in it , ( i never was an adventerus eater )

[cdavis]

sheleyp1 great reading. Thanks for sharing

[Dave in AZ]

sheleyp1 I enjoyed that too. Good spice profile summaries.