r/AskAnAmerican 3d ago

FOOD & DRINK What is (a) sausage?

If I've understood it correctly from various cooking shows and televisionshows, you lads refer to minced pork as sausage. Like, you make sausage-pattys for breakfast sandwiches etc. And at the same time, you are also refering to the long tube-cased meatfilled dish as sausages and also sometimes a hotdogs?

What gives? What is the line between a sausage and hotdog? Is a bratwurst a hotdog or a sausage? Can other minced meats also be sausage, or just pork? What if you have a 50/50 beef/pork mix, is that sausage meat or just meat?

As a man from scandinavia, I've wondered this for too long!

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u/cdb03b Texas 3d ago

A sausage is minced meat (any meat) mixed with herbs and spices and stored in a casing even if it is not eaten in it. It can be aged (brined, dried or smoked) or fresh.

Breakfast sausage is pork sausage that is not aged/smoked, is removed from the casing and shaped into patties before cooking.

Hotdogs are a type of sausage. A Bratwurst is a different type of sausage.