My first experience with meat in tubed form was from that
ubiquitous yellow can on every grocery store shelf with seven perfectly packed
sausages in broth. Yes, those Vienna sausages which only vaguely resemble the
true Vienna sausage which is made with pork and beef encased in sheep’s
intestine then lightly smoked. What everyone in the 50th grew up
with is made from chicken, pork and beef without any casing material and is
purchased in such large quantities in the 50th that Libby’s actually
kept the older yellow label as a change to the newer blue label caused a drop
in sales as islanders suspiciously by-passed the newer blue label cans viewing
them as an alternate brand or worse yet, generic.
And like most islanders, I originally was also “addicted”
to these miniature meat by-product sausages. Whenever Mom would ask what we
wanted for our birthday dinner, for several years I simply asked for Vienna
sausage (quartered lengthwise) cooked with sliced green beans and scrambled
eggs. And while this dish was one of Mom’s usual quick meals, she convinced me
that it wasn’t birthday fair and that I should choose something fancier to eat.
So while I’ve drastically cut back on Vienna sausage
consumption (along with its canned cousins, corned beef and Spam), I still
partake in other forms of meat in tube form.
Dried Tubed Meat
The dried forms of tubed meat are either partially dried
as in summer sausages like Hickory Farms or Goteborg or hard dried like salami
and pepperoni. Both don’t require refrigeration until you slice them because
once you expose that cut end, anything and everything grows in the 50th
and you’ll likely see various colors of mold eventually propagating.
The partially dried variety are usually sliced and
consumed without any additional preparation. As an undergraduate, I enjoyed my
fair share of Hickory Farms summer sausage as Mom always purchased at least
half a “stick” whenever those temporary Hickory Farms kiosks would pop-up at
the mall. And even back then, I started my budding sommelier career as I would
pair it with Blue Nun Liebfraumilch Riesling which now makes quite a lot of
sense. The acid and sweetness in the wine paired perfectly against the salty
and fatty qualities of the summer sausage. Going back to the old world, what do
Germans eat? Sausages! And what wine do they drink? Riesling!
Or if you hail from Kauai, then you’ll slice your
Goteborg, pan fry it until a “cup” forms then place a scoop of rice in the
“cup” and sprinkle with furikake for
the perfect Goteborg Musubi!
The dried forms are your basic whole salami and pepperoni
though these forms are commonly sliced for ease in consumption though I
personally prefer the whole tubed variety with the white mold covering that I
slice myself depending on the application. Slightly thicker slices to adorn
pizza and thinner slices to consume as is. And don’t worry about that white
mold covering – it’s the reason the salami or pepperoni gets dried as the mold
removes excess moisture thus prolonging shelf life.
Fully Cooked Tubed
Meats
These are the tubed meats usually found in your
neighborhood supermarket with the most basic being your standard hotdog.
Because Mom was raised on the Valley Isle, the Tatsumoto’s only consumed hot
dogs in the red casing probably because Mom grew up on Maui hot dogs which used
natural casing and red food coloring. As a child I enjoyed the Oscar Meyer
brand (when served at friend’s houses) because it had a softer bite probably
because it wasn’t encased with natural casing. However Mom always felt that it
looked too raw because of that anemic coloration so she never purchased the
Oscar Meyer brand. I never understood the logic because we consumed our fair
share of Vienna sausage which simply looked like mini Oscar Meyer hot dogs and
I’m sure that if Mom knew that the natural casing in Maui hot dogs came from
animal (usually pork) intestinal lining, she would have immediately converted
to Oscar Meyer. Of course, I also enjoyed my fair share of Maui hot dogs as
Auntie K always sautéed them with Maui onions for breakfast during our annual
Maui vacations and we’d enjoy the breakfast leftovers after fishing all day
with Uncle Ogi’s homemade chili pepper water.
Other common forms of tubed meats found in supermarkets
include bratwurst, knockwurst, bockwurst, Italian sausage and English bangers
though gourmet varieties such as chicken and apple sausage, Andouille and a
host of gourmet sausages can usually be found in the same deli section
including Hawaii’s own Portuguese sausage or linguica. Since these are fully cooked, they simply need to be
reheated on the stove top or on a grill.
Fresh Tubed Meats
You can now also find fresh, uncooked Italian sausage in
both the sweet and spicy versions, bratwurst and local longanisa in most supermarkets and these are my favorite tubed
meats as you can cook them exactly as you desire. I find that fresh bratwurst
slowly poached in beer with sliced onions, coarsely cracked black pepper and a
couple of bay leaves creates the juiciest sausage plus you now have a lightly
flavored bratwurst broth to use in other cooking applications.
I also use fresh Italian sausage first removing the meat
from the casing then browning and crumbling the sausage for the perfect
Bolognese (red Italian meat sauce). Of course, I “stole” this idea from Chef
Keith Endo of Vino who adds garlic, roasted red peppers, fresh basil and
chopped tomatoes for Vino’s rendition of Bolognese.
I also crumble and brown the uncased Italian sausage with
sliced garlic, rapini (also known
broccoli rabe) and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese then toss it with cooked
orecchiette or ear-shaped pasta and chili flakes for the traditional
orecchiette with rapini.
Or if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous than standard
fresh supermarket sausages, stop by Butcher & Bird in Kaka’ako for their
house made and house cured fresh sausages – they usually stock at least 2 to 3
different varieties that you probably won’t find at your local supermarket.
The Next Frontier
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