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Posts Tagged ‘Breakfast Sausage’

I usually “make my own” breakfast sausage, and by that I mean I purchase ground pork, season it to my liking and fry it up.

After eggs, ground pork is usually the second least expensive protein in the store.

But I keep trying commercial preparations, and have reviewed a host of them, found here, including Bob Evans, Dollar Tree, Usingers, Grandma Pearl’s, Farmer John’s, Parkview (Aldi) and others.

This week, Odoms Tennessee Pride brand “Hot” (they also make “mild”)  was on sale, so I grabbed a chub.  Odom’s makes fresh sausage, pre-cooked sausage, breakfast sandwiches and sausage gravy. I’ve tried the frozen sausage gravy in the past. The company was started in 1943 in Tennessee and today is part of food giant Conagra. Conagra has a ton of food brands which you probably use regularly.

This particular chub of sausage was manufactured for Conagra at Abbyland Pork Pack in Curtiss, WI.

As to this sausage. I was quite pleased with it. Not a terribly fine grind, which gives it some texture. Handsome, authentic pork flavor, and just the right amount of heat for me. I can be a  wimp about hot foods sometimes. Not a whole lot of residual fat in the skillet after cooking, so that’s good too, it’s lean.

I’d buy it again, especially if was on sale, but even on sale, it’s still 30-40% more than fresh ground pork.

Pan fried

Tennessee Pride Hot Sausage Review

Tennessee Pride Hot Sausage Review

I rarely purchase pre-made breakfast sausage; it’s expensive and the available flavors are not always to my liking. Usually I just buy ground pork, which is always very cheap, and season it to my liking.

But this week I grabbed a one pound chub of Bob Evans “Hot.” Bob Evans starting making sausage on his farm in Ohio in 1948, which he’d use at a little 12 seat diner he owned in a nearby town. People liked his sausage and he tried to to sell it to other restaurants, but they weren’t having it.

Some friends talked him into expanding, and the original restaurant today seats 135, and the chain bearing his name recently sold to a private equity group for more than $500 million.

The grocery food company remained on its own after the sale, and made a few small acquisitions to add side dishes to their line of foods.

It’s recently been announced the food company has been sold for $1.5 billion to Post Group, the cereal company. As of October 2017, the deal has not closed, but that’s not unusual. These things take time.

Below is a picture of the chub, the raw product, and the finished. The ingredients are only pork, water, and some minor spices. I weighed it raw and cooked, and the weight stayed the same. No ½ deep pool of fat in the skillet!

Anyway, I liked it. It’s made in the factory in Ohio (pictured). But it’s still spendy. If I could figure out the ratio of herbs and spices, I’d make my own. Until then, I’ll keep buying this one!

Find the sausage and side dish products here:

Find the closest Bob Evans restaurant.

Bob Evans Hot Sausage Review

Couple weeks ago, I wrote about my visit to the Bulgarian grocery in Chicago.  One of the items I picked up was “Sujuk” sausage, which wikipedia defines as “a Sujuk is a dry, spicy sausage which is eaten from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia.”

It has slightly different spellings by country. This is a pork, beef, seasoning link in a natural casing, sold raw. The label suggests it’s perfect for the grill or breakfast.

I really enjoyed it.  It’s full of flavor which resembles the source muscle, with a firm and chewy texture.  Much like the Spanish dry chorizo, but without the heat.  The density makes me think it might not be so manageable on a bun, but it was sure delicious pan-fried and sliced.

Pan fried and sliced

Sujuk Sausage Review

Today part of ConAgra, Odom’s Tennessee Pride was started in the mid 40s by two brothers whom combined their knowledge of the meat business and home delivery (from earlier jobs). Headquartered in Madison, TN, with plants in Tennessee and Arkansas, Tennessee Pride makes sausage in rolls, links, pre-cooked, and packaged sausage gravy. They have recently expanded into the heat and eat breakfast sandwich segment, with sausage biscuits, turkey sausage biscuits, and chicken biscuits.

Today I’m cooking up their 1 pound hot sausage roll, sliced into patties, on a cast iron skillet. Their websites frequently features recipes and coupons. Ingredients are straight forward:  Fresh Pork (including fresh ham and tenderloins), seasonings, water, sugar, salt and MSG). Nutritional information is not on the site, but I found this elsewhere:

Country Sausage : Per 2 oz – Calories: 200 kcal | Fat: 17.00 g | Carbs: 0.00 g | Protein: 9.00 g.

I often buy fresh ground pork and season it myself when I’m in the mood for breakfast patties, but once and awhile, I prefer getting it from the pros, like Tennessee Pride.  It’s a lean, fine grind, nicely seasoned, with a little bit of kick in the ‘hot’ variety.  Need some Odom’s sausage or sausage gravy shipped to your house?

Cookin’ Up

Tennessee Pride Sausage Reviews

I’m so old, “Little Smokies” weren’t around when I was a little smokie.  Yet Hormel ‘full size” smokies were a regular part of my family’s weekend breakfast. Saturday breakfast was a big event at our house, my dad often cooking, and it was such a spread that kids often slept over on Friday nite to gorge on the feast which may have included any or many of the following: scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, toast, smokies, ham, steak, turnovers.

Oscar Mayer has brought back the ‘large size’ smokies, 8 to a pack, all natural, no artificial ingredients, a skinless sausage of beef and pork with seasonings, and hardwood smoked.

They are about the same size of hot dogs, larger than I remember them from back in the day, a coarser grind than hot dogs, with a bit more distinctive seasoning.

Verdict? They are OK, but not something I would pick up regularly. I have been spoiled by Hillshire Farms Beef Lil Smokies over the years.

The good news at the moment is Hormel has introduced a raft of new products, and they are all highly discounted.

BTW, some Hormel products are distributed on a regional basis, and I’ve found they have an ecommerce website for items that might not be available in your area. Cool.

Smokies Review

Here tell this be the go-to spot for brekky goodies in NE PDX.  Mrs. BDB was at a business meeting there today (she is in charge of bringing home the bacon!) and did bring home the bacon, well, pork anyway, in the form of the “Pig Newton”  – two link breakfast sausages inside of a biscuit dough roll.   It was mighty tasty.   The sausage is mild, and the biscuit flaky!    I’ll have to do a personal investigative road trip to check out more of Jim & Patty’s menu. BTW, those are ample sized breakfast sausages, not the tiny brown & serve kind!

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