Sausage roll row: US 'invents' new summer snack

[JimC]

Racist. You mean 'Pudding of colour'?

Nah, let's call a spade a fuckin' spade...

Nigger Pudding!

[Scot Dutchy]

That's a black pudding.

[Forty Two]

Settle down Britlanders....

Trader Joe's did not claim to have "invented" the sausage roll, or the equivalent with a hot dog. Wrapping a hot dog or a sausage in any sort of breading - whether pastry, or a roll that backs around it, or cornbread (corn dog) -- has been around for far longer than Trader Joe's.

I googled it, and apparently the thing with Trader Joe's is that that kind of looked at it as an upgrade - a full sized hot dog (all beef, uncured) and wrapped in a "flaky pastry." None of that is an invention, and Trader Joe's did not claim it was an invention. Some food review site named Hellogiggles wrote an article about it it. The title of the article said "here's why they're genius" - and then the article explained how the quality of the hot dog, size of the hot dog and the type of pastry, made them awesome. Apparently, it's the pastry/hot dog combo plus the Trader Joe's quality that is the bit they focused on.

Nobody claimed that the sausage roll was invented in the United States.

The ultimate origin seems to be lost in the mists of time, and is not necessarily Britain. The French and Hungarians were making them ages ago, and the idea of wrapping meats in dough stretches back to ancient Greece and Rome.

[Alan B]

I prefer the flat version. I think it's called a 'pie'.

[JimC]

I prefer the flat version. I think it's called a 'pie'.

3.14159265 out of 10...

[Scot Dutchy]

Squared.

[Tyrannical]

Oh, and to the best of my knowledge the US has no equivalent to Aussie/UK sausages. We only really have breakfast and Italian sausage, and both are very different.

[Forty Two]

Oh, and to the best of my knowledge the US has no equivalent to Aussie/UK sausages. We only really have breakfast and Italian sausage, and both are very different.

This is not accurate. Breakfast sausage and Italian sausage are both very popular. However, they are by no means the only sausages in the US. The US has many popular varieties, like Andouille sausage, which originally came over with French immigrants hundreds of years ago, but was cajun-ified in Louisiana. We have cajun and creole Boudin as well. We have the Half-Smoke in the mid-Atlantic states. There is Southern Louisiana Ponce. We have Goetta in the mid-west (which is a type of sausage with some grain/oats mixed in). We have Detroit style hot dogs, and Chicago style hot dogs, and New York style hot dogs. The list goes on and on, not to mention that in the US, a wide variety of international cuisines are generally available in every city, so if you want Brazilian linguica, then there is a churrascaria nearby for you. If you want bangers and mash, there is a British pub or 10 in every city. It's not correct, in most instances, to say that "the US has no equivalent" when talking about almost everything. Here in the US, at least in metropolitan areas, there generally is a version of pretty much everything.

[pErvinalia]

I prefer the flat version. I think it's called a 'pie'.

3.14159265 out of 10...

[Tyrannical]

Oh, and to the best of my knowledge the US has no equivalent to Aussie/UK sausages. We only really have breakfast and Italian sausage, and both are very different.

This is not accurate. Breakfast sausage and Italian sausage are both very popular. However, they are by no means the only sausages in the US. The US has many popular varieties, like Andouille sausage, which originally came over with French immigrants hundreds of years ago, but was cajun-ified in Louisiana. We have cajun and creole Boudin as well. We have the Half-Smoke in the mid-Atlantic states. There is Southern Louisiana Ponce. We have Goetta in the mid-west (which is a type of sausage with some grain/oats mixed in). We have Detroit style hot dogs, and Chicago style hot dogs, and New York style hot dogs. The list goes on and on, not to mention that in the US, a wide variety of international cuisines are generally available in every city, so if you want Brazilian linguica, then there is a churrascaria nearby for you. If you want bangers and mash, there is a British pub or 10 in every city. It's not correct, in most instances, to say that "the US has no equivalent" when talking about almost everything. Here in the US, at least in metropolitan areas, there generally is a version of pretty much everything.

I suppose Ill have to go to a fancy specialty shop, since my local grocer doesn't sell anything like that

[pErvinalia]

Oh, and to the best of my knowledge the US has no equivalent to Aussie/UK sausages. We only really have breakfast and Italian sausage, and both are very different.

I don't think the Australian sausage is anything to get excited about. I'm assuming you are referring to the bog standard beef sausages we have here? I enjoy them, and in fact I had two of them with dinner tonight.. but there's a lot better sausages getting around. The German one's come to mind straight away, and I also like chicken sausages, though I don't eat them that much. Not sure where the idea of a chicken sausage originated from. Lamb sausages are nice too, and perhaps that's more common here and in new zealand perhaps due to our huge sheep industries. But my favourite sausage would have to be a simple beef, tomato and onion aussie style sausage. Heaps of butchers make them or something close. Although, unfortunately my local butcher doesn't make them for some reason, and instead has weird sausages with things like pumpkin and fennel in them. I miss the great butchers in Brisbane. There's probably some really good ones around here, but there's only one anywhere near the shops where I do my shopping.

Fark, look at how much I just wrote about bloody sausages! These antidepressants are ridiculous.

[laklak]

It's hard to find UK style bangers here. There's a new farm shop up the road that sells a pretty decent substitute, but they're nothing like a 99p package at Tescos. I've got some in the fridge, think I'll do bangers and mash tonight.

[Rum]

The traditional British sausage or banger as they are often called is a simple affair. It is simply raw ground pork, salt and pepper, perhaps a few slices, though nothing fancy and that's it. After squeezing into skins they are fried. There are regional varieties but the differences tend to be the amount of mincing the pork undergoes and the amount of pepper. Here we have Cumberland sausage for example, which is more coursely ground and has so much pepper in it it tastes spicy hot. It is rightly famous. There are of course other sorts, beef for example, available these days.

[Scot Dutchy]

The English banger was just that. Full of husk and very little meat. Remember to prick it but that is the problem prick it and all the fat (the only protein in it) runs out. I remember Wall's sausages of the 50's. They went bang if you failed to prick them. Disgusting but cheap.

[Brian Peacock]

What meateater doesn't like to get their hands on a nice, firm salami and slip it into their.... shopping basket every now and again.

Here's my recipe for a healthy vegetarian alternative to the traditional sausage...