Brats, Sausages, and Hot Links - What's good in your part of the world?

[LYU370]

Stop at 407 BBQ if coming up I-35 E.

http://407bbq.com/

I-35W :wink:

 

[dadsr4]

There is also this thread.
Best Store Bought Sausage?

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175178

 

[Eads Ranch]

Check out Green's Sausage House in Zabcikville, TX.

 

[Daddy-O]

Michigan has a number of excellent sausage makers. Kowalski products are good, Koegel natural casing hot dogs are the best I've had.
In terms of nation wide, many here have good things to say about Eckrich Smoked Sausage.

Also Vollwerth's in the UP!

 

[frognot]

I-35W :wink:

Oops! Thanks Andy!

 

[shoebe]

Kind of spendy, but good stuff

https://www.olympiaprovisions.com/

 

[chingador]

Not sure what part of east Texas you are in but Tallent in Riverside is pretty good. They make some good all beef sausage down around Beaumont and Port Arthur. HEB for more Czech style Texas sausage from Prasek or Eckerman would work too.

 

[Big Andy]

Here in West Tennessee we don't have the smoked sausages nearby that many of you enjoy, but we do have a near monopoly on great breakfast sausage. :grin: We have Jimmy Dean, Grogan's Farm, and my favorite, Williams Farms. All are made within a hundred miles of here. They also produce countless other lesser known brands that make some great fatties.

 

[Kade]

Keeters out of Tulia Texas makes some dang fine sausage. Not sure if they ship but it would be worth it in my opinion.

 

[Hoss]

Here in West Tennessee we don't have the smoked sausages nearby that many of you enjoy, but we do have a near monopoly on great breakfast sausage. :grin: We have Jimmy Dean, Grogan's Farm, and my favorite, Williams Farms. All are made within a hundred miles of here. They also produce countless other lesser known brands that make some great fatties.

We used to make the trek to Henderson for whole hog every year at opening day of dove season and buy a couple of whole cooked hogs to feed the hunters.Is that still going on up there?I think Irby Kolwick was the guy we bought from.Been several years.Thinking of doing it again is why I ask.

 

[Mr.OiSat]

We get a lot of good sausages over here but there s one small butchershop across the street where my grandparents lived they make fantastic cheese brats. Another great thing are merquez which is a very spicy sausage made of lamb originally from marocco / tunisia. As I live right on the border to straßbourg, france you get really really good ones there.

From the baconarea of bratwurstcountry

 

[Sid Post]

We get a lot of good sausages over here but there s one small butchershop across the street where my grandparents lived they make fantastic cheese brats. Another great thing are merquez which is a very spicy sausage made of lamb originally from marocco / tunisia. As I live right on the border to straßbourg, france you get really really good ones there.

From the baconarea of bratwurstcountry

Europe has some really awesome sausages and meats. Heck, the food over there, in general, is really awesome!

People I worked with 'turned their nose up at Doner Kebab' but, I'll take a late night train station Doner from a Turkish man any time of day or day of the week! The spicy pork cutlets served in German beer tents at some random small towns were totally awesome too!

While food in Europe generally costs more, it is generally of higher quality IMHO. Strawberries for instance taste like real Strawberries, not some artificial 'berry powder' from a chemistry set. Chicken and Pork from normal grocery stores really tastes like Chicken and Pork - real flavor! I'll take an 'ugly' delicious apple over a picture perfect tasteless one anytime!

Dry aged, air cured, etc. hams, sausages, etc. from Europe set a very high standard in general that I am trying to match here in East Texas. Around here, industrial Cornish cross chickens and industrial pork, tasteless 'tube' meats, at the cheapest possible price with little to no regard for quality are what most consumers want.

Someday, I hope to cold smoke and hang my own hams and grind my own meat but, until then the search continues for better brats, sausage and, hot links.

 

[Big Andy]

We used to make the trek to Henderson for whole hog every year at opening day of dove season and buy a couple of whole cooked hogs to feed the hunters.Is that still going on up there?I think Irby Kolwick was the guy we bought from.Been several years.Thinking of doing it again is why I ask.

There is Siler's in Jack's Creek, across from C & R Grocery. They might be a possibility. That may well have been the location, different owners. Trying to think of anybody in Henderson, Bill's is the busiest, but they don't do whole hog.
I have sent a text to a buddy that lives down there. I will update when he answers.

 

[HankB]

I'm close enough to the cheddar curtain to get Usingers bratwurst at Sam's and that's my preferred brand. I'm surprised that you can't do better in Texas but then I have to recall that a lot of middle Europeans settled in the upper Midwest. My grandfather (from what was then Czechoslovakia) used to make his own sausage - jaternice - of which I have fond memories as a child.

 

[Sid Post]

... I'm surprised that you can't do better in Texas but then I have to recall that a lot of middle Europeans settled in the upper Midwest...

In rural East Texas, mass market cheap is what sells. Around the Austin area, it's a totally different story as it likely is in Houston, DFW, Texarkana and other large metropolitan areas.

Lockhart and Fredricksburg come to mind as good places to go as well as other spots off the Interstate in that general area. Unfortunately, I'm about 4 or more hours out from most of them so, grocery stores and Walmart are my best bet out here in the sticks.

Trips to Dallas or mail order is my best bet at the moment. HEB which has been recommended is two hours away at its closest location.

 

[overeasy]

Lots of good options folks. How about making our own?