#5 & #6 - Super Bowl Sausages - RESULTS

Well, you know what they say: football is a game of inches.  There were at least 120 inches of sausage on the line in the most recent football game of note.  The Bolognese Bangers quickly took the lead in the first quarter,
in a three-step play known to insiders as the Wine-Soak-Crisp:

First, the Bolognese Bangers dissolved some tomato paste in red wine. 

Then they stormed the field of play, diving right into the mess.

Before anyone could tell what was happening, the Bolognese Bangers' lead link was in the end-zone, flushed with victory.  There was neither an undisturbed countenance nor un-wetted pants-seat in the house.

After such a dynamic display of gastronomic fortitude, the Biryani Bowlers struggled to regain their composure.

A shot of the Biryani Bowlers emerging from their locker room after the assault from the Bolognese Bangers.  It is unsurprising that they are banged up and bent out of shape.

With flawless execution of basics on the ground, the Biryani Bowlers quickly regained the crowd's attention.

"Anything with that much juice around the edges, has got to have some serious firepower inside. Watch out!" warned one match commentator.

Sure enough, as soon as the field was flipped, the Biryani Bowlers unleashed their hidden firepower, channeling the strength of approximately 17 chicken hearts to score.

While not as flushed as his counterpart on the Bolognese Bangers, this Biryani lead link also took time to bask in the glow of point-scoring victory.

Having not expected any comeback from the Biryanis, the Bolognese Bangers became salty, and were quite bereft of aplomb.

This lead link clearly never heard that you 'shouldn't let 'em see you sweat.'

At the end of the match, the judges retreated to a food-coma pavilion for discussion.  By this point the Bolognese Bangers' lead link had calmed down, wiped off some of it's sweat, and was happy to pose for glamor shots with the linesmen.

This particular linesman was so excited to be posing with his favorite lead link that he didn't even care about the sweat stains.

The lead link insisted that the photographer stay and take a few 'profile' shots.  "You gotta make sure to get all my veggies," he was overheard saying.

So what was the verdict?  In this writer's opinion [Editor's Note: We don't pay this lunkhead for his opinions, this publication takes no responsibility for whatever nonsense this yahoo is about to put on digital paper] these were the two best sausages ever made by Salt-Peter.  Both used innovative techniques and ingredients; both had very-well balanced flavors, well-rounded taste-waveforms, and delved into heretofore-unplumbed gustatory depths.

Bolognese
The Bolognese sausage was based on a family-recipe meat sauce, which I have been eating since someone was kind enough to replace my supply of breast milk with its richer, more soothing texture.  The sausage evinced the flavors of this heavenly meat sauce without mimicking it too closely.  The meat sauce is already good as it is, and it's a lot easier to make than this sausage.  Therefore, it was an ideal result to have produced this tweaked version with shared flavors but an altogether different package.  Cooking the sausage in a tomato paste-red wine reduction was great, and now I know how to give sausage casing a brilliant sports-car shine.

Next Time: While I would still cook the sausage in a reduction, I would also add some tomato paste to the raw hash prior to stuffing.  After all, how could you be Italian without tomatoes. 

Biryani
The Biryani sausage was an all-out experiment (based, of course, on a variety of excellent spices).  The Chicken hearts added a depth and richness to the thigh meat that has convinced me to start using the incredibly-priced iron-wealthy little morsels in a variety of other faire.  Moreover, the blend of spices, the yogurt, and the fine-ground texture of the sausage combined to produce a mouth-feel that was, in a word, 'professional.'  Now, I'm not one to toot my own trumpet [Editor's Note: This bozo is most certainly the kind of trumpet-tooter we would prefer not to employ] but I can unequivocally say that this was one fine sausage.  I would pay $8-$10/lb for this if I could find it in any markets (HINT, HINT, COMMERCIAL SAUSAGE-MAKERS), but that's just me. 

Next Time: Nothing.  Do nothing differently.  Just make this delicious Biryani sausage again.  Soon.

-S.P.