Overture

Some years ago while enjoying exploring Central Texas's outstanding barbecue places I became particularly fascinated by their sausages and began to explore Texas sausage makers on their own. We are blessed with many of them, small town butcher shops and smokehouses all over the state but particularly in the areas settled by Czech and German immigrants, turning out products that are frequently much better than the famous nationally distributed brands. These products are an often overlooked part of out culinary heritage and I have set out to explore as many of them as I can. There are some that are widely distributed and well known, Chappell Hill in Chappell Hill, Holmes in Pleak, near Rosenberg, Burton, in Burton, but many others whose products may only be available where they are produced. This section will be devoted to reports on many of them. Some of my earliest finds, like V & V in Cistern and Eurestes Grocery in Waelder, I visited before I had a digital camera or had thought to start taking notes, but eventually, I'll get around to visiting them again and reporting on them as well as many others.

I won't be doing any formal ratings just reporting on what I find. To each his own is my philosophy on taste and besides I seldom have the opportunity to do side by side taste tests.

Next time you're traveling Texas get off the interstates and drive thru the small towns looking for these local butchers, deer processors and sausage makers and pick up some of their products for your grill. You won't regret it.