Alright, let’s talk about this breakfast maple sausage pork, the kind they say is raised “humanely.” Humane, huh? I tell ya, back in my day, we just raised pigs. Didn’t need fancy words for it. Fed ‘em slop, they got big, we ate ‘em. Simple as that.
Now they got all these farms talking about “heritage breeds” and “regenerative agriculture.” Sounds mighty fancy, but I reckon it just means they’re trying to make the pigs taste better, and maybe charge a bit more, too. Heard tell of some farms up in Ontario, raising these Tamworth and Berkshire pigs. Say they let ‘em roam around, not cooped up in cages. Well, that’s how it should be, I say. A pig needs room to root around, you know? Makes for a happier pig, and maybe a tastier sausage.
What’s in this sausage anyway? I looked at some of them packages at the store, and some of that stuff, I ain’t never heard of. Says “mechanically separated chicken” in some of ‘em. Chicken in my pork sausage? What in the tarnation? Then there’s corn syrup, flavorings, and all sorts of words I can’t even pronounce. Give me good old pork, salt, and pepper, that’s what I say.
- Pork: Well, that’s a start. But what kind of pork? And how much of it is actually in there?
- Water: They gotta add water, I guess. Makes it weigh more, maybe stretches it out a bit. Smart, but not my way.
- Salt and Spices: Salt’s good, gotta have salt. Spices? Well, I like a bit of pepper. But some of these sausages got so much spice, you can’t even taste the pig.
And then there’s the maple syrup. Now, I love maple syrup on my pancakes. But in sausage? I dunno. Some of it’s real maple syrup, I hear. Some of it’s just corn syrup with “maple flavoring.” You gotta watch out for that stuff, they try to fool ya.
Some folks are worried about nitrates and nitrites in their sausage. Say it keeps the meat from going bad, makes it look pretty and pink. But they say it ain’t good for you. Back in my day, we just smoked the meat, or salted it good. Kept it just fine without all them chemicals. But times are different now, I guess.
Cooking it up: Now, cooking sausage, that’s easy. You can fry it up in a pan, bake it in the oven. I like mine crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Don’t overcook it, though, or it gets dry and tough. And don’t forget to drain off the grease. That stuff ain’t good for ya.
They say you can bake it at 325 degrees, if it’s frozen, maybe 10 or 12 minutes. If it’s thawed, a little less. Convection oven? I ain’t got no fancy convection oven. Just my old cast iron skillet, does the job just fine. They also say this “McDonald’s sausage” got things like dextrose, sugar, rosemary extract, natural flavors, mechanically separated chicken and more. Sounds like a whole lot of trouble to me. Why not just use pork?
If you want to get fancy, you can make your own sausage. Grind up the pork, add your own spices. That way, you know exactly what’s in it. But that’s a lot of work. I reckon most folks just buy it at the store.
So, this “humanely raised” breakfast maple sausage pork? Well, it’s probably better than some of that other stuff they sell. But you still gotta be careful, read the labels. And don’t be fooled by all them fancy words. At the end of the day, it’s just sausage. And the best sausage is the kind that tastes like pork, plain and simple.
Tags: [Breakfast Sausage, Pork, Maple Sausage, Humane Farming, Food Ingredients, Cooking Instructions]
