Posted by Zach Brooks, May 7, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Photograph from the blog 'We Are Never Full'
In France, if you order a "sandwich américain," what you'll end up with is a chopped beef, hamburger-like substance, topped with french (ironic right?) fries, and stuffed into a baguette. It is unclear whether the name comes from the notion that french fries are now fully associated with America (rather than Belgium, where they are probably from), or whether the French just consider us gluttons—either way, I'm not ashamed to admit that the sandwich sounds amazing (and I'd be happy to shout that out while waving a giant American flag).
Even better though, is a variation on the sandwich américain, where the hamburger is replaced with merguez sausage, and served from a street cart. Vendors can be found dishing out the delicious merguez frites, as they're called, on the streets of Paris, from stalls at flea markets, or at the fireworks display in Carcassone, which is where Amy and Jonny from the blog We Are Never Full discovered this Moroccan inspired, French treat.
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After a delightful White House visit this morning, Pope Benedict XVI cruised down Pennsylvania Avenue in his sweet popemobile. Apparently, he likes White Houses but not white sausages. He's tired of receiving the wurst, originally from his native Deutschland, as a gift. It's a nice gesture, but a little awkward. You understand, right?
Posted by Michael Nagrant, March 21, 2008 at 11:00 AM
When people find out I’m a food writer, they always ask me what my favorite restaurant is. I always respond that answering the question is like asking me who my favorite child is. I usually ask them what kind of food they’re looking for and give them a top three list of options for that particular cuisine.
Truth is, though, if some hungry felon held me up at gunpoint and needed to know my top five favorite spots, Hot Doug’s: The Sausage Superstore would absolutely make the list.
Owner Doug Sohn, a culinary school grad, brings his chops to bear on the humble hot dog. He serves the best Chicago style salad dog in the city. But, it’s not the basic dog I come for. It’s the duck fat fried French fries glistening with sea salt and the custom sausages with ridiculous luxury ingredients.
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Posted by Michael Nagrant, February 22, 2008 at 8:15 AM
With Quartino, Osteria via Stato, and now A Mano all slinging cured meats, Chicago’s downtown lunch arena is sporting more sausage than the Chicago Bears locker room after a big game. A Mano, the newest of the triumvirate, is helmed by Bin 36 veteran chef John Caputo and offers a wide selection of salumi, including the handiwork of Seattle’s sausage king, Armandino Batali. In addition to the charcuterie, A Mano features all manner of Italian-focused goodies from wood-fired pizzas to zingy crudo.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, January 25, 2008 at 12:00 PM
This commercial has convinced me that Hungarian sausage is the key component to having a kick-ass party. But it's not just the sausage—the song is pretty damn catchy.
Watch the glistening sausage madness after the jump.
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Posted by Ed Levine, January 13, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Fishtown, a newly gentrified section of Philadelphia, may have the best cheesesteak in the city—which is saying something—as well as a fine bacon-wrapped meatloaf (Serious Eaters do love their bacon-wrapped meatloaf). The New York Times takes a look at food options in the neighborhood:
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Posted by Zach Brooks, October 17, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Photograph by Sarah Brooks
Much like most big cities here in the U.S., the streets of Stockholm are littered with stands selling their version of the hot dog. They call them "French hot dogs" or korv (from korvar, the Swedish word for "sausage"), and it is essentially a sausage stuffed into a French bread roll. Most stands in the city serve a generic-looking hot dog version, but for a real homemade sandwich, there's only one korv stand to visit—Östermalms Korvspecialist.
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Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 20, 2007 at 9:12 AM
Robin Mather Jenkins of the Chicago Tribune, lamenting that people don't eat breakfast sausages anymore because they think of them as fatty, shares a recipe for maple-sage breakfast sausage, lean and made from scratch. She says, "It's simple to make, and impressive. It takes just a few minutes to prepare, and it is many times better than store-bought, especially if you mix it up a day or two ahead of the time you plan to cook it, so the flavors can blend." Freeze the patties, and you can have breakfast sausages anytime you want!
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 11, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Gridskipper's Beginner's Guide to Frankfurt is a great quick read if you're planning a short trip to the city: "It's no Berlin or Munich, but this fine sausage-making metropolis still has a few delights to offer. Most of the city was obliterated during World War II, so much of the usual euro-touring is replaced by cruising the streets, noshing sausages, stopping in countless apple-wine bars, and hanging out with opera fiends. If that's your thing, we have a few choice recommendations for your maiden Frankfurtage."
I spent my whole life disliking mustard until the first time I tried it on a street sausage in Frankfurt, and then my eyes were opened to its wonders! If your only exposure to sausages is hotdogs from street carts or at the ballpark, frankfurters in the city they're named for will blow you away as they exist on a different plane of tastiness altogether.
Posted by Ed Levine, March 23, 2007 at 3:30 PM
A piece in Saveur has a hilarious take on the origins of currywurst, the griddled pork sausage topped by a bizarre mix of ketchup and curry powder.
Lena Brucker, a street stall owner in postwar Hamburg, "tripped on a flight of stairs while carrying a carton of ketchup and a can of curry powder obtained on Hamburg's black market. Absentmindedly licking her fingers after cleaning up the mess, she discovered the two ingredients' delightful compatibility."
It sounds like the origins of fusion food in general. Where can Serious Eaters find the best currywurst in this country? I noticed that New Yorkers can get their currywurst fix at the Hallo Berlin cart and at the Hallo Berlin restaurant.
Hallo Berlin Cart
Address: 54th Street and Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10022
Hallo Berlin Restaurant
Address: 626 Tenth Avenue (44th/45th sts.), New York NY 10036
Phone: 212-977-1944
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 12, 2007 at 7:40 AM
Mrs Marv is so hardcore that she made sausage, biscuits and gravy for her mom—all of it completely from scratch. Yes, even the sausage! I think you'll agree with me when I say that I think she is a breakfast rock star.
[via Tastespotting]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 26, 2007 at 3:09 PM
19 year-old Dayne Gilbey of Coventry, Wales volunteered to let tattoo artist Blake Dickinson ink his skull with the image of a full English breakfast: "bacon, eggs, sausages, beans and even cutlery."
Frankly, I'd be amazed by Gilbey's foolhardiness except that I'm too busy appalled by how ugly that tattoo turned out to be, especially when you consider how pretty the photo of an English breakfast that ran with Graham Holliday's In Defence of British Food feature today is! What do you make of it?
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 12, 2007 at 1:56 PM
Southern Fried Eggs Benny is kind of like Eggs Benedict, only with a fried egg instead of poached, sausage instead of Canadian bacon, and cream gravy instead of Hollandaise. If your mouth isn't watering by now, I'm not sure we can be friends.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 18, 2007 at 1:55 PM
Jimmy Dean sausage inside a sweet pancake shroud: get 'em, fourteen at a time, with blueberries, chocolate chips, or plain. They're calling these "fun on a stick," but I think "corn dog in drag" is more appropriate.
Perhaps we are better off in outer space.
