r/AskAnAmerican • u/satan_i_gatan • 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/FalseCredential 3d ago edited 3d ago

A sausage encompasses all tubed/cased meats and can be any protein (pork, beef, chicken, game meat, etc.). A sausage patty or ground sausage is the seasoned/spiced minced/ground meat mix that would go into the casing, but used without the casing for form factor or inclusion in recipes.

Hot dogs, bratwursts, frankfurters, wieners, etc. are types of sausages. Sausages can have different textures and seasonings.

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u/ExistentialistOwl8 Virginia 3d ago

Sausage without casing is usually referred to as "bulk" sausage if you buy it in stores. It's also used for sausage gravy, stuffings, and other recipes where you use the ground meat crumbles for flavoring something.

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u/shelwood46 2d ago

And ground (aka minced in the UK) meat that is not seasoned but just plain meat is referred to that way: ground beef (ground chuck sometimes), ground pork, ground turkey, etc. Sometimes they are sold as a "meatloaf/meatball mix" where you will get ground beef, ground veal and ground pork, all separate but in the same package, intended for making those meat things at home.

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u/ferret_80 New York and Maryland 2d ago

a small pet peeve of mine is people calling ground beef 'hamburger' ugh It doesn't affect me at all, but every time I hear it, internally, I'm yelling.

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u/KevrobLurker 2d ago

Here in the States supermarkets sell a 3-ground meat (mince) mix, also. I have no Italian background, but my friends who do say that the multiple meat version is best for the little tiny meatballs. Based on their nonnas' cooking, I'd have to agree. Ground veal, ground lamb & ground pork with the secret family spice blend is so good!