# What kind of sausage was this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245 "2014-07-16T02:10:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/21 "2014-07-16T13:17:17Z")
Long shot, but given the possible location of Pennsylvania - maybe [Hofmanns Snappy Grillers](http://www.hofmannhotdogs.com/page/snappy-grillers)or [Zweigles White Hots](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/18366310951343604/)? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/22 "2014-07-16T13:24:30Z")
The Zweigles look pretty close. In my memory the sausages were fatter, shorter, and more curvy, but as I said it has been decades, so maybe my memory is exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/23 "2014-07-16T14:15:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Weisswurst was my first guess as well. > > But if it was garlicy, it might have been [biala kielbasa](http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/sausages/r/polishsausage.htm). Yep–that’s the fresh Polish sausage I mentioned. That’s the Polish name that means “white sausage.” I thought of the white hots, but I don’t think I’ve seen them outside of upstate New York and, even more, specifically Rochester. Another, even less likely, possibility that fairly fits the description is some type of English/Irish banger. Those can come in the shape described, but tend to be difficult to find. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/24 "2014-07-16T14:33:35Z")
Unsmoked knackwurst is one guess. > [@](#): > > \*\*Wiki says: \*\* > The German noun Knackwurst—which, in English, is sometimes corrupted as knockwurst—comes from the German words knacken (“to crack”) or knackig (“crisp”). This refers to the swelling of the sausage during cooking, so that the skin becomes pressurized and balloon-like, and tends to “pop,” often exploding the juices, when bitten into. But probably just a good brat or polish. I had THE BEST polish-y sausages from a street cart in Orlando circa 1997. Huge white sausages with a snap, grilled but so juicy, garlic and black pepper galore, with sharp onions and peppers on a crusty po-boy roll. Like a “Maxwell St.” on steroids–I still dream about these. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/25 "2014-07-16T14:47:36Z")
I’d lean toward weisswurst as well. I usually boil and grill them and they turn out quite well. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/26 "2014-07-16T14:50:04Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > Unsmoked knackwurst is one guess. > > But probably just a good brat or polish. > > I had THE BEST polish-y sausages from a street cart in Orlando circa 1997. Huge white sausages with a snap, grilled but so juicy, garlic and black pepper galore, with sharp onions and peppers on a crusty po-boy roll. Like a “Maxwell St.” on steroids–I still dream about these. 😃 Mmm…that sounds awesome. Weird thing is, here in Chicago, home of Polish sausage and a huge Polish community, it’s pretty difficult to find a grilled or fresh version being sold at fast food stands. In fact, I can’t think of any. It’s all the smoked Polish sausage here (including the Maxwell Street sausages.) I mean, you can buy white sausage, but it’s almost always in Eastern European supermarkets and delis (or those that cater to the community) and you have to grill it up yourself. (Although, growing up in a Polish household, I have to say, we actually never grilled it up. We’d boil it, bake it, or use it in soup generally.) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/27 "2014-07-16T14:50:18Z")
The description made me think of Weisswurst. Man, this thread is making me hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/28 "2014-07-16T15:00:03Z")
I would agree with others and say it was almost certainly Bratwurst. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/29 "2014-07-16T15:04:42Z")
Also, if you can remember the texture at all, that might be a clue. Weisswurst is an emulsified sausage with a very soft, perhaps slightly spongy kind of texture on the inside. It’s a very specific texture I associate with stuff like veal frankfurters and Polish [parówki](http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/03/hot-dog-of-the-week-polish-parowki-with-steam.html). I think it’s a combination of both the emulsification and the veal (which weisswurst contains). The bratwursts I’ve had in the US tend to have a firmer, coarser texture, more like your typical fresh sausages. These are your Wisconsin “Sheboygan-style brats,” usually made from pork alone. But there are bratwursts that are both emulsified and made with a proportion of veal. (“Bratwurst” itself is a very broad term.) Those are more one of the German styles. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/30 "2014-07-16T15:09:45Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I would agree with others and say it was almost certainly Bratwurst. Let’s split the difference. How about [Weisse bratwurst?](http://www.feinkost-pum.de/Bratwurst-weiss-fein.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/31 "2014-07-16T17:15:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’ve had good bratwurst at a few places, and it never looked like this sausage—short, fat, and curved. The bratwurst I’ve had was always a regular, straight sausage shape. Well, there are 2 distinctly different products in the market labelled as Bratwurst: [ul] [li]The long straight version packaged and sold along with the regular hot dogs. These (like hot dogs) are pre-cooked and you really just heat them.[/li] [li]The raw version usually in the packaged fresh meat area. These are usually boiled then grilled. They end up shorter fatter and curved in cooking.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/32 "2014-07-16T17:39:05Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Well, there are 2 distinctly different products in the market labelled as Bratwurst: > > [ul] > [li]The long straight version packaged and sold along with the regular hot dogs. These (like hot dogs) are pre-cooked and you really just heat them.[/li] > [li]The raw version usually in the packaged fresh meat area. These are usually boiled then grilled. They end up shorter fatter and curved in cooking.[/li][/ul] True, but they’re not usually shorter than a hot dog, and they have gentle curve to them. [This would be a pretty typical image](http://www.thepauperedchef.com/images/2009/06/homemade-bratwurst-29.jpg) of your bog-standard US brat. Although [this gets closer](http://thumb1.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/100911/110325008/stock-photo-grilled-bratwurst-on-a-bun-isolated-on-white-110325008.jpg), but it’s still about the size of a hot dog. ETA: Although I miss the [Thuringer rostbratwurst](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Th%C3%BCringer_Bratwurst.jpg/796px-Th%C3%BCringer_Bratwurst.jpg) of Germany. Love the meat-to-bun size ratio. Reminds me fo Midwestern [pork tenderloin sandwiches](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Pork_tenderloin_sandwich.JPG/1920px-Pork_tenderloin_sandwich.JPG). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/33 "2014-07-16T19:00:39Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The Zweigles look pretty close. In my memory the sausages were fatter, shorter, and more curvy, but as I said it has been decades, so maybe my memory is exaggerated. There are other brands of white hots in the Rochester/Syracuse area, IIRC, so it’s possible you had white hots but from a different maker. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/34 "2014-07-16T19:20:31Z")
Now I really want to eat all those sausages. Last year, this fantastic place opened up near me — Fat Shorty’s [http://www.fatshortys.com/](http://www.fatshortys.com/) — had an amazing variety of sausages. It didn’t even last a year though. Really miss it. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/35 "2014-07-16T19:57:33Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > Unsmoked knackwurst is one guess. > > But probably just a good brat or polish. > > I had THE BEST polish-y sausages from a street cart in Orlando circa 1997. Huge white sausages with a snap, grilled but so juicy, garlic and black pepper galore, with sharp onions and peppers on a crusty po-boy roll. Like a “Maxwell St.” on steroids–I still dream about these. 😃 I was thinking knackwurst as well. The brats I’ve had do not strike me as being short and girthy enough to be worth mentioning. But really they could have been any kind of home-made sausage and wouldn’t necessarily conform to standard descriptions. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/36 "2014-07-16T20:04:19Z")
the curve of your sausage depends on how fast it fills up and the tightness of the hand grip. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/37 "2014-07-16T20:08:34Z")
Ah, that reminds me, it can also be a type of [bockwurst](http://www.zennerssausage.com/images/fc_bockwurst.jpg). Those come in both smoked and non-smoked varieties, tend to be short and stout, and are quite similar to weisswurst, but they are often [grilled](https://www.ottossausage.com/products/bockwurst). (Although that last one is more a standard bratwurst-sized bockwurst.) ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/38 "2014-07-16T20:24:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > True, but they’re not usually shorter than a hot dog, and they have gentle curve to them. YMMV - the ones we get cook up very short and stubby. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/39 "2014-07-16T20:44:01Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > YMMV - the ones we get cook up very short and stubby. Yeah, it’s variable, but _typically_ they’re normal “sausage size.” But any sausage can be made made short and stubby or long and thin or anything in between. (No jokes, please.) [This would be the typical style of raw bratwurst](http://www.usinger.com/magento/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/650x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/f/i/file_24_7_5.jpg) around here. Although the Johnsonville ones are a little bit shorter and a little bit stouter. You need not boil them first, either (most people around here don’t. I know in Wisconsin they often do the beer and onion boil and then grill, but they also do the grill first, and hold in beer & onion method, as well.) I support the no-boil method, myself. It makes a tastier juicier brat, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245/40 "2014-07-16T20:53:37Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the curve of your sausage depends on how fast it fills up and the tightness of the hand grip. That’s what she said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-sausage-was-this/693245.md?page=3)