Chicken Sausage With Truffles

Sausage is one of my favorite foods. I like almost any kind of sausage, including vegetarian versions made with meat substitutes. There is one kind I don't like and that’s blood sausage, but that has nothing to do with what it is, and everything to do with the texture of the stuff. I don't like the "mouth feel," it's too grainy and floury and that's something that really puts me off. Anyway, I love sausage and I try to sample new kinds and new brands all the time. I've had my eye on this brand for a while, but have avoided buying it because it is a little pricey. Last week, I was feeling like a splurge, (which was pretty nervy of me considering the book purchase I just made), I decided it was time to just go ahead and throw caution (and dollars) to the wind and finally try D'artagnan Sausages.

It was a near miss. I fried them up in a pan and when they had begun to sizzle and sputter I burst the skins open with a fork to release some of the juices. When the sausages had formed a nice crust on the bottom, I turned them over and let a crust form on the other side before taking them off the heat. I let the sausages rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes so that the juices had time to settle, mind you, this was chicken sausage so there was very little juice to settle but I waited 15 minutes anyway. they smelled pretty good I sliced one into bite-size pieces and took a bite...hmm, rubbery in texture and surprisingly bland! I swirled the sausage in my mouth trying to taste the truffles. I could hardly detect anything and was beginning to wonder if I WOULD be able to detect any truffle flavor, then it hit, sort of strong, a little gamey… a definite truffle taste. So, the truffle flavor was there, just not overpowering and not on the front of the palate. The rubbery feel of the sausage was a big downer and so was the blandness. I was feeling a little bad because it looked like I was going to throw away the other 3 and 1/2 links but then I thought to slice it up and put it into the asparagus rice soup I made the day before. That was the best thing I could have done. The rubbery texture disappeared, the sausage became tenderer, absorbing a lot of the flavors of the soup and the soup brought out the truffle flavor a little more. Would I buy them again? Probably not. Would I try some of the other kinds…sure, just not anytime soon.

Written by Deb on March 24, 2004 12:57 AM