Oh wow. A thread made for me! 
As a firm believer of local sausage shack’s Hot Doug’s slogan, “There are no finer words in the English language as ‘encased meats,’ my friend,” I have some opinions on the matter.
For day-to-day eating, I really miss the Thuringer Rostbratwurst, which is a little different than its smoked Wisconsin cousin, known simply as the Thuringer sausage (which is also very good, and Hot Doug’s has a particularly good version of it.) Basically, it’s a white sausage (usually pork, or mix of pork & veal)
stuffed in thinner, almost hot-dog like casings, and flavored with white pepper, caraway seeds, marjoram, mace, ginger, milk, etc. Basically it’s a type of bratwurst as we Americans are familiar with it.
I’m also particular to the Hungarian debreceni, a coarse-ground pork sausage heavily spiced with garlic and Hungarian paprika. It turns the oil red as you fry it. I have not been able to find a suitable version of it here in Chicago. The local Hungarian supermarket, Bende, carries it, but it’s not quite the same sausage.
Balkan cevapcici, particularly the kinds served in Bosnia. They are fresh sausages, not encased, made usually of a 1:1:1 ratio of pork:lamb:beef (although the Bosnian ones tend to be all lamb or a lamb-beef mixture), heavily seasons with garlic. Great grilled and served on a pita with raw onions and ajvar (a red pepper-eggplant paste).
Of course, my ancestor would be pissed if I didn’t give props to the myriad of Polish sausages out there, particularly the smoked varieties. I’m especially a fan of kabanos, which has cousins in Italy called cabanossi. It’s a dry, smoked pork sausage, about 1-2 feet in length and 1/2 inch in diameter. The ones pictured there are a little fresh for my tastes. A lot of times, we just buy them like that in the Polish deli, and let them hang in a dry place (usually next to the heater in the basement), until they dry out to our tastes, about a week or so. Think of them as the sausage versions of Slim Jims. They are so good, garlicky, smoky. I’ve been known to eat an entire two-foot link of them if I don’t watch myself.
Of course, props must be given to chorizo. I don’t like any of the prepackaged brands, but I live in a Mexican neighborhood, so it’s easy to get fresh homemade chorizo any day of the week. Different places have different levels of heat and flavor profiles, but most of them are pretty good. Huevos or papas con chorizo are heavenly.
The Chicago hot link, particularly the ones served at Barabara Ann’s BBQ and Uncle John’s BBQ (they come from Grant Park Packing). The grind and flavor of these sausages vary around the Chicago, but the one I like is coarsely ground with visible pieces of fat (like a good debreceni), with a spicy kick and a sagey note to them. In some ways, they remind me of spicy breakfast sausages. Best served grilled or smoked.
I can go on forever, though. Other favorites:
Paprikás kolbász (Hungarian dried paprika sausage, similar to salami)
Téliszalámi (Hungarian winter salami)
Weißwurst (Bavarian veal sausage, usually eaten boiled for breakfast)
Kiszka (Polish blood & barley sausage)
Vienna Beef or Chicago Red Hots hot dogs (natural casings only)
Maxwell Street Polish as served by Maxwell Street Express or Jim’s (both on Union)
and probably a thousand others I’m forgetting.
Basically, I’ve never met a sausage I didn’t like.
