Monday, July 18, 2011

Texas Sausage Battle


A while back I purchased all of the Texas made commercial sausages I could find at Dallas area grocery stores. My plan was to have a blind tasting with empirical data collected from several tasters and report that data here. Instead, we all just enjoyed the party and ate loads of sausage. I even failed to take good notes, so I can't even attempt to personally rank them. I do have some photos to share.













I do remember enjoying the Nolan Ryan beef sausage (Huntsville), the Kiolbassa (San Antonio) and the Texas Traditions (Houston) sausage. I also lamented not purchasing V&V sausage (Flatonia) from Central Market. I've enjoyed it in the past, and I'll be sure to get it for the next tasting. I promise to do better next time.

- BBQ Snob

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great idea! Did you include sausage from Kuby's?

Marshall Cooper

silvercuellar3 said...

I love me some Opa's. Great for breakfast tacos also.

BBQ Snob said...

No Kuby's in this battle. I'm looking to do a more specific battle in the near future that is purely local. Kuby's, Rudolph's, Renko's, Syracuse, etc. I want to get more attention on some local producers so folks understand that they don't have to order Ekrich.

michael said...

don't forget meyers, available at central markup. at least, it used to be.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I started a similar experiment about 3 weeks ago. Sausages from local butchers. Tried 4 shops so far. No losers yet. Keep up the good work!

Joe

Anonymous said...

BBQ Snob:

Thanks. Any chance you can post a matrix comparing the various brands..(salty, peppery, casing cruch, yada yada)....

BBQ Snob said...

I'll have to take better notes next time. Maybe then a matrix can be crafted.

Chris Gallucci said...

The Holmes pecan-smoked sausage is pretty good.

You're gonna need to start over and this time do it right.

Jack in Bedford said...

I'm an avid reader of this blog, and I think you're out doing the Lord's work here.

I've been curious to see a comparison like the one you attempted, so I'll be looking forward to the time when you do this and produce a comparison I can use when shopping. I love Texas barbeque with a passion, and sausage is always one of my favorite items.

Curt said...

I didn't see any Meyer's Elgin sausage in the pictures.

Great stuff! I just ordered some to be shipped to me. I spent my first 35 years in Texas, but am still stuck here in Wisconsin.

I think I'm going to order some Chappell Hill sausage next!

Nice blog by the way!

DISCLAIMER:

Each joint is judged on the essence of Texas 'cue...sliced brisket and pork ribs. Sausage is only considered if house made. Sauce is good, but good meat needs no adornment to satisfy. Each review can only be based on specific cuts of meat on that particular day. Finally, if the place fries up catfish or serves a caesar salad, then chances are they aren't paying enough attention to the pits, so we mostly steered clear.

-THE PROPHETS OF SMOKED MEAT