Andouille (/ænˈduːi/ an-doo-ee in US English; French pronunciation: [ɑ̃nduj]) is a smoked sausage made using pork, originating in France. It has been brought on the German Coast of Louisiana by the German immigrants and Acadian exiles that would merge to create much of Cajun culture.
This stuff is good! I add it to my vegetable beef soup for a little extra zing.
For fresh (uncooked) sausages, especially bratwurst, I like to steam them to a “just done” state and then toss them in the pan or on the grill for a quick light browning. Steaming plumps them up, cooks them through, but leaves the juices inside the casing for that tender moist quality. Never tried the oven thing, but it sounds like it works about the same way.
To me, if you don’t like all them different bits in your sausage, you’re kind of missing the point.
Like boudin for example, great stuff but don’t ruin it by asking what’s in them! 
reads thread titles, inhales sharply
… Oh goddammit.
When I was a kid, we used to get sausages made by the local locker plant. I never appreciated them then because they weren’t ‘store bought’, but I’d really like to have some now. They weren’t really all that bad.
You might want to be careful you don’t get it confused with Andouillette though.
In my mind you have to split sausage into its major categories.
Fresh(bratwurst, breakfast sausage) Raw meat, in nearly all cases designed to be cooked. National and grocery store brands have preservatives to give more life, but still not very long. Butcher made might have a very short shelf life do to lack of preservatives(other than salt)
Preserved-Cured(Salami, Andouille), maybe cooked, maybe smoked, maybe even fermented. Can be eaten cold or used in cooking. long shelf life typically.
Pre-cooked. (hot dogs, most kielbasa) Meat is cooked and some people eat cold(although some people say listeria is a threat). Usually heated to temp, but cooking through is not-applicable.
Italian sausage is the best, but it’s not all created equal, of course. The best I’ve had was out Boston way, as each butcher has his own recipe for sweet, mild and hot Italian. Grill it and serve with onions and bell peppers that have been sauteed in butter. Shit, gotta go wipe my chin. . .
What’s up with Italian sausage anyway?
If I go to a nice Italian restaurant the sausage filling is fine ground. which is awesome.
But if I go to a grocery store, the Italian sausage is course ground. Which is still good but not awesome.
I want that stuff like the restaurants have.
Might I recommend the sausage episode of Good Eats as a starting point?
It includes how to make two sausage staples - breakfast and Italian - and covers some of the concepts behind it all. I would really recommend starting there to see what all the options are.
That said, I’ve always felt like sausages are supposed to use the by products of animals. I know I’m in the minority, but they just seem like the perfect way to use a higher percentage of the animal, while still getting some benefit from the better cuts of the animal. Waste not, want not and all that.
A good Italian restaurant probably grinds their own and takes more care than a large grocery chain would or a t least has a special provider. If you have a good Italian grocer near by he’ll probably have 5 or 6 different fresh Italian sausages. Just go in and tell him you want something with a fine grind, if you want fennel, hot or mild, etc., and he’ll probably have one on hand you’ll like.
I really really need to make it to a sausage restaurant in downtown LA my husband and I have been meaning to hit up. This thread makes me hungry.
Anyway, I would definitely start with bratwurst. They are an… accessible sausage. They are mild enough that most people can appreciate them, with enough flavor that they don’t just bore you to pieces, and not so weird that it’s hard to eat.
If you find that there are some sausages you just cannot stand, it’s probably one of teh seasonings. My father hated sage, for example. I cannot understand someone hating sage because sage is heavenly, but be that as it may, because of his hatred for sage, virtually all breakfast sausages were verboten. I still hold a grudge. 
Chorizo. Messy, spicy, greasy…and absolutely delicious.
Also, Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage on a biscuit is a little slice of Heaven.
How do they make “emulsified” sausages? (I.e., all-one-color-and-texture-inside, like hot dogs or Vienna sausages but unlike most kinds of breakfast sausage.)
How do they make “emulsified” sausages? (I.e., all-one-color-and-smooth-texture-inside, like hot dogs but unlike most kinds of breakfast sausage.)
Essentially they get the right meat/fat ratio, keep it really cold, and just grind the crap out of it until it literally emulsifies. You can do it at home with a food processor and a stand mixer (see Ruhlman and Polcyn’s “Charcuterie” for the details).
Just turn down the heat on the stove top and cook them slowly, turning frequently, and never pierce the skin with a fork or let it burst.
Reminds me of a day not too long ago when (in my job as a telefundraiser) I rang a lady who assured me that she ‘DOES HER BIT’ for charity…'cos she buys a snag at Bunnings every Saturday!
Mmm… Chorizo! The spicier, the better. (Even the Mexican place I get them from in town doesn’t make them spicy enough. For the OP, chorizo is not sausage-shaped when you eat it. You take it out of the casing and cook it like ground beef. Great wrapped in a flour tortilla with fried potatoes (and eggs).
Speaking of ‘loose’ sausage, let’s not forget haggis! Turns out I do have a can of it in the cupboard! 
I ordered some of this Spanish chorizo to add to paella. I highly recommend it. Not as hot as you may like it, but very flavorful. They also sell a slicing (cured) chorizo that is good.