Tofurkey calls it a sausage. I call it a brat. But despite the fact that we’ve been eating them for years, when YA went to the store last week, she came home without them because I had written “brats” on the list and the product on the shelf said “sausage”. Sigh.
I grew up without sausage or brats. Bacon and hot dogs were our porks of choice; I don’t know why. I actually had never even heard of a brat until I was married and moved to Milwaukee. By that time I was a vegetarian so never delved too deeply but has always seemed to me that a brat is just a fat hot dog. Go ahead… pile on.
Tofurkey’s Italian sausage is a brat to me, because if it were sausage, in my world it would be smaller and something I might have for breakfast. But according to YA she didn’t put it in the basket because it didn’t say brat. I won’t say we actually argued about this, but it was the first time in a long while that I’ve gotten to roll MY eyes.
Is a hot dog in a bun a sandwich?
Trail Baboon 
According to Speedway it is a sandwich for which I recieve double points this month with the purchase of two. Yippee!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Excellent, and you thought of it so early in the morning!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My mother often sang that to us kids.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mine might have!
LikeLike
Only if a hamburger in a bun can be called a sandwich. Either way, I don’t care. I’m not much of a hot dog eater. Brats, on the other hand . . .
Chris in O-town
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m with YA on this one. Your personal lexicon of sausages is arbitrary and confusing. Sausage is the generic term for ground meat (or not meat) plus seasonings stuffed into a casing—or, in the case of sausage patties, unstuffed. Brats are a specific kind of sausage, though I don’t know the specifics. I’m sure it has to do with size, coarseness of the grind, and seasoning. If you called all tubular vegetables carrots, how confusing would that be?
I haven’t eaten a hot dog in years. Wieners are suspect.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I have a feeling Renee’s husband, Chris, is the brat authority.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We have several kinds of sausages in our freezer. We also have a new meat grinder/sausage stuffer. As Husband is from Sheboygan, the bratwurst capitol of the world, I have eaten my share of brats. He says a brat is a special kind of sausage meant to be roasted on an open fire, simmered in beer and butter at some point in the process, andcserved on a special bun called a hard roll. The rolls are difficult to find outside of Sheboygan. He prefers Miesfeld’s Triangle Market as a brat source. The rolls come from Fredricks’ bakery. He says a proper brat should have veal and nutmeg in it.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Some people put two brats on one hard roll. They are large rolls.
LikeLike
Sheboygan brats are the official brats of the Minnesota Vikings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good to know.
LikeLike
…in the same sense that USBank is the official bank.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Seems to me they are also the official brats of the Minnesota Twins. Those brats get around.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My north German family called summer sausage mettwurst. That has a much different meaning in Southern Germany, where it is a far different food.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What does it mean in southern Germany?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a soft, spreadable sausage mixture.
LikeLike
Husband says that growing up in Minnesota doesn’t make you an expert on lefse, it is just part of who you are, just like brats in Sheboygan. I would like to hear Margaret’s ideas on sandwhichs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Growing up in Sheboygan or Minnesota doesn’t make you an expert on brats or lefse but making your own sausages or lefse sort of does.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Many folks have enjoyed the bratwurst dinner they serve at the Black Forest Inn in Minneapolis. “Our excellent handmade bratwurst served two links with hot German potato salad, carefully seasoned sauerkraut and fresh, homemade rye bread.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh man, now I want to go there again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I believe that Black Forest closed during Covid
LikeLike
yep
LikeLike
Closed? Permanently?
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’ve reopened!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Noooooooooo….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woops, should have read all the comments –
Yaaayyyyy (if they’re really open again).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Waldmann Brewery features all kinds of wursts. They make their own. It’s the best wurst.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Huh. According to OED:
“The definition of a sandwich, according to the Oxford English Dictionary is as follows: ‘An item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with a filling between them, eaten as a light meal. … And that official governing body has decreed that no, a hot dog is not a sandwich.”
LikeLike
OED also calls a cookie a biscuit.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh those Brits are so cute when they misuse English!
LikeLiked by 2 people
My point is that they’re not the governing body of anything.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nor do they claim to be, I don’t think.
LikeLike
A dictionary is a history of how words have been used in the past.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Ban the notion that a sandwich requires two slices of bread.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Bingo.
LikeLike
hey vs
she did you a favor
beyond meats italian sausage is so superior to tofurkey you will never look back
target has them
i also bought targets private label knock off to see if they compared well.
italian sausage and brat is interchangeable
if you need clarification to make a shopping list you’re in trouble
bill and ya can shop together chris can shop mail order and the world will continue to function
i look for general starting points in life
Are used to have a rule when doing business in China never ask a question that could be answered yes because they will when doing business in Taiwan never ask a question because each question you ask comes back with 15 questions being asked of you and you end up needing to do 12 hours work in order to get them to do their’s
This reminds me a lot of Taiwan
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ve actually tried the beyond meat. I still prefer the Tofurkey.
LikeLike
Wonderful meat market a dozen miles away in Nicollet, makes wonderful sausage and bacon. Not a fan of flavored bacon or sausage. But plain brats from there are wonderful. All their meats are top-drawer. When you walk in and inhale, especially this time of year, you gain three pounds.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Kramarczuk’s Sausage Company in Minneapolis is my favorite purveyor of eastern European sausages. For Italian sausages I go to Morelli’s or, if I’m feeling flush, Buon Giorno Deli or Cossetta’s.
The Waldmann Brewery is local watering hole not far from where I live, with a limited menu, and a wonderful assortment of house made German sausages. It’s a great place to hang out for a light meal with a friend; one of the few places where you don’t have to shout to carry on a conversation. The Waldmann is the oldest surviving commercial building in St. Paul, and it has been beautifully restored to maintain it’s original charm. The owner spared no expense to assure the craftsmanship in the restoration, and it shows. Wonderful place.
LikeLiked by 2 people
What’s it called, Clyde?
LikeLike
Schmidt’s
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am wondering about Margaret. She must be making open face sandwiches and can’t post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, now I’m conflicted about whether a hotdog is considered a sausage or something else. At any rate, here’s the Danish contingent of The Swe-Danes take on how to serve “en pølse,” the Danish version of a hotdog:
LikeLiked by 3 people
Oh, thank you, PJ!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Tra la la la la la la. Delightful.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nobody can corral words. Words are in flux from several forces such as changing reality which words address, the use of words as metaphor, the sloppy use of words by advertising and by the uncaring and by the ignorant. I tried not to make a judgment about sloppiness because even some of the sloppy uses make the language more fun. Language is a social construct which means all sorts of things, for instance that people are judged in all sorts of ways and that we adapt our own use of language to the situation. Word choice communicates much more than the simple denotation of the words. A large vocabulary and “correct” use of words often makes for poor communication. Among my always losing battles as an English teacher were with the students who thought the point of communication is to use the largest and rarest word possible and with the parents or just adults who insisted it was my job to defend the language.
LikeLiked by 5 people
LikeLiked by 3 people
LikeLiked by 3 people
I love brats.
We’ve been getting our pork from a local guy, a friend from the college. “Cousin Huck’s” on FB. The bacon is the best we’ve ever had. The cottage bacon is wonderful. Several kinds of brats and they’re all delicious.
LikeLiked by 3 people