Sometimes Foodie: Buffalo & Cheese Smoked Sausages

Buffalo & Cheese Smoked Sausages - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

I hope all of you Americans were able to enjoy the nice weather and remember all of those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today. I may not agree with every military action or war, but I will always support the individual troops who put themselves in harms way for the sake of their loved ones.

On a less serious note, Memorial Day has become synonymous with burgers, hot dogs, and grilling. I picked up these flavored sausages at Aldi to add a little variety to my Memorial Day meal.

The packaging is a glorified zip-lock bag, which isn't appealing, but it is fantastically functional. I was only cooking for a few people, and not everyone enjoys trying new (and potentially spicy) foods, so I only cooked up three of the sausages for our meal. The self sealing bag allowed me to reseal it and toss the leftover food into my freezer for later. Having a bag that can store extra food is really handy. I wish all meat products were packaged like this. (Although the typography and overall design could be a bit nicer.)

I put these sausages out on my grill for a few minutes, rotating to get a little char on all sides, and they cooked up really quickly. As you can see there were a few spits in the sausage's casing, I think the cheese inside created excess moisture, which caused the little tears, but these did not start leaking any sauce or cheese. These were no messier to cook up than a normal sausage or hot dog. (Although these were a bit greasier on the outside than the normal hot dogs that were cooked on the same grill.)

I took a bite, and the first thing I noticed was the the interior of this sausage was really moist. You can kind of see some of the juices catching the light in the bite-photo above. We're not talking juices running down your face and making a mess, but this was much juicier than any sausage I have purchased from Aldi in the past.

The sausage had a nice texture, which was smoother than a homemade sausage, but not as smooth as a processed hot dog, and there wasn't any visual hint of cheese or buffalo.

When it comes to taste, the cheese tastes processed, like Kraft and Velvetta, and although I didn't run into any pockets of it, it does add an overall creaminess to the rest of the sausage. As for the buffalo flavoring, there didn't seem to be any sauce mixed in to the sausage, I'm guessing there was some kind of spice blended into the meat, but it is present. After a few chews there is a mild heat that hits the back of your tongue, but I found it to be on the mild-medium side of things. Thankfully, I really enjoyed this sausage and I prefer it to the normal hot dogs I cooked up.

This sausage might not be as intense as buffalo wings, but it does spice up typical grill-food. If you wanted to make things more intense you could add hot sauce, or peppers, but I preferred this sausage as-is. (~~Giggity~~.)