Banner Sausage. It's been on my Grail List for some time now, and last weekend I finally had the chance to try it out. Put up in 10½-ounce cans distributed by Pinnacle Foods Corporation (the owner of the Armour Star brand) this stuff is more reminiscent of scrapple than of sausage, and it is nearly impossible to find in supermarkets in my area - I finally gave up and ordered it online. I'm not sure it was worth the effort.The "Serving Suggestion" photo on the outside of the can shows several nicely browned sausage patties lined up on the edge of a plate of sunny-side-up eggs. The picture left me completely unprepared for what I actually found when I popped the top off of the tin.
The stuff wouldn't come out of the can on it's own. I had to slip a knife between the can and the...um...?meat and give the can a couple of really hard shakes. Even then, it only edged out an inch or so and then stopped. Finally, I punched a hole in the bottom of the can to let some air in behind the sausage, and that seemed to do the trick. With the vacuum well and truly broken, the contents of the can plopped onto my cutting board.Wet, vaguely pink, kind of grainy. It wobbled when I tapped the cutting board. This was like no other sausage I had ever seen. I doubted I'd be able to get this stuff to fry up as attractively as the patties depicted on the label.
The label says that there are "about five" servings in the can, so I decided to put the cylinder on its side and separate it into five slices. The Banner Sausage had other ideas, however. It was so wet and "loose" that I just couldn't get five slices out of it, and had to settle with four. I preheated a non-stick frying pan while I was slicing the sausage, and by the time I was done it was ready. The patties went in and immediately started sizzling. Shortly after that, they started to release an odd sort of water/grease mixture that evaporated from the pan and left behind a golden brown crust.I gave the patties a few minutes to brown on the bottom, but it was impossible to get a spatula under them - it was like trying to flip a puddle. I decided that the best thing to do would be to turn the fire way down to low and just let them brown out on the bottom and hope that some of the moisture would evaporate out of them.
They finally got to a point where I figured they would be solid enough to turn. I got the spatula under them and discovered that, although they had cooked to a golden brown crust underneath, they were still loose and very, very wet above. The hell with it, I flipped them over anyway, and each of the patties landed in the pan with an ugly splat. The uncooked parts oozed out from under the brown crusts, and more liquid seeped out.Now, I'm going to pause for a moment here to talk about the ingredient list on the back of the can. It goes a long way towards explaining why Banner Sausage cooks up the way it does.
Partially Defatted Pork Fatty Tissue, Beef Tripe, Mechanically Separated Chicken, Water, Wheat Flour, Salt. Less than 2%: Vinegar, Natural Flavoring, Sodium Nitrate.
I've always wondered what "partially defatted fatty tissue" was. Maybe it's an udder or something that's been boiled down to render out some of the grease.
Anyway. After another ten minutes or so of gentle frying, the patties had firmed up enough to lift out of the frying pan and onto the breakfast plates. They looked interesting: glossy brown crusts, almost plastic-like, surrounding heated but still wet, pink, grainy interiors. The "patties" didn't like being cut, but they were okay with being "scooped." Trouble is, fork pressure just ripped the crust off the wet part.As truly awful as this stuff looked, I have to admit that it didn't actually smell all that bad as it cooked. A bit "tripey," I guess, but not nearly as offensive as when I cooked up a batch of pickled tripe for a friend. I guess the best way to describe it would be that it smelled like really, really cheap sausage.
Flavorwise, it wasn't horrible either. Again, "tripey," vaguely sausage-like, but most of all salty. I really don't think that slicing Banner Sausage into patties and frying it is the way to go with this stuff, despite the label photo. Maybe I should have followed the recipe on the back of the can for Sausage 'N Eggs: "Heat sausage; add slightly beaten eggs and continue heating, stirring occasionally, until eggs are set. Season to taste." On second thought, scrambled eggs shot through with veins of greasy wet kinda-meat doesn't sound all that much more appetizing than what I actually ate.
.
My report from Sept. 2001 - you will note that the ingredients are somewhat changed but the total experience appears to be the same:
ReplyDeleteBanner Sausage: cereal added: with natural juices.
Ingredients: beef tripe, pork stomachs, partially
defatted beef fatty tissue, beef heart meat, wheat
flour, water, salt. Less than 2 percent: vinegar,
natural flavorings, sodium nitrite.
All right, tripe, tripe, and fat, my kind of food, what
could be bad? So I said, it's time for sausage gravy.
...
The sausage, on the other hand: an adventure. It
came out of the can wet and pink, rather vomitous-
looking, with a strong smell of tripe. I fried up a
small patty just to see what it would do, and it
refused to stay patty-shaped but rather oozed around
a bit forming a tough brown crust on the bottom; the
crust tasted like tripe; the pink liquidy insides
tasted sort of like tripe but also sort of canned hash.
Not by any stretch of the imagination resembling any
kind of sausage, unless there is a kind of andouillettes
that are uglier than the ones that I have already tried.
It amazes me that Armour Star/Dial/Pinnacle managed to take an already filthy-cheap food and make it more cheap (and more filthy.)
ReplyDeleteI've actually read threads on survivalist message boards where people say that Banner Sausage is so bad they wouldn't even put it on the ration shelves of their Shit Hits The Fan Shelter.
Hell of an product slogan: Banner Sausage. Not Even Good Enough For The Apocalypse.
Well that begs the question of who is buying it then? If it's that horrible why do they continue to make it...I guess the obvious answer is that it's the cheapest way to dispose of the those "ingredients".
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from a google search for Banner Sausage reviews...and have spent the last 2 days reading nearly every entry. Almost makes me wanna re-open my old blog. Well done!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, this stuff was a real treat. I'd nearly forgotten about it until my husband brought some home for the novelty of it. I was thrilled.
It tastes just as yummy as I remember.
Don't bother with making slices, it's not do-able. And stop thinking of it as traditional breakfast sausage. It's a whole different thing.
Cook it up in a small saucepan on low heat for 15 minutes or so -- until it gets all brown and sort of dry. It's great spread on toast, even better poured over biscuits. Like sausage gravy, without all that pesky gravy getting in the way.
Bagel of everything: I figured halfway through my experiment that Banner Sausage shouldn't be fried as patties. It baffles me why they would show that as a "serving suggestion," but even pictures of cans from the 1960's show the same photo, so Armour's been doing it for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhen I give Banner Sausage another try, though, I'll follow your suggestion and cook a lot more of the moisture out of it. When it comes right down to it, the flavor wasn't that bad, it was mostly the texture I objected to.
And, thanks for reading. I appreciate it.
It's much better if you add a bit of flour to the sausage. You can stiffen up enough to make patties but it's much bettter if you just add a little and leave it a bit loose.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in North Carolina on Banner Sausage - we called it "squishy sausage" for obvious reasons. Not sure why they suggest the patty thing becuase it's just not doable. I put mine in a small pan and cook it over medium/medium-high heat until most of the water is cooked out. It's great on toast by my favorite is mixed in with grits. Can't find it in the store unless I'm back home in NC - Texas doesn't have it so my sister orders cases for us. Hope you try it again and have a better experience! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave! I ran into this review while trying to find where I can buy it for my parents. Now I won't bother ordering myself a can of it to try. They absolutely rave about this sausage... Maybe it is just associated with memories from their youth. I am saving this site to read your other blogs. :)
ReplyDeleteThe current form of Banner Sausage is a disgusting residue of its former self. The ingredients in 2001, and prior, made a more pleasant product. I used to use it straight from the can and onto grits.
ReplyDeleteSince they changed the ingredients, however, it is so nasty that you can imagine each ingredient from the first spoonful. I only wish there was something out there similar to the original ingredients.
I've grown up eating this type of sausage, it was one of our favorite things to have as a kid. We always referred to it as "bulk sausage". I'm not sure as to why they use that picture of patties on the front either. I would highly recommend giving it another try though. My best advice for cooking it is to just put it in a pot, break it up with a fork so it heats easier, and just let it basically liquefy. We always eat it with a spoon. You can try it with scrambled eggs added in, but usually we just eat it as a side on our breakfast plates. If you don't want to risk trying Banner Sausage again, try Beverly's Bulk Sausage. It looks and is cooked the same way as I mentioned, but I prefer it over Banner's. Try it with some toast sometime. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog after reminiscing about Banner and Beverly Bulk Sausage that I ate as a child. I always felt the "serving suggestion" was a bit misleading as well. I would just mix the goop with eggs and then top with ketchup if I felt like having haute cuisine.
ReplyDeleteAbout a year ago I happened to have one can laying around. For some inexplicable reason, I ate it cold, directly out of the can... Maybe it was the 18 pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
You may want to try a can of Rose's Pork Brains (with milk gravy) next. It's serving suggetion is a honest representation.
@Anonymous - I have tried Rose Pork Brains with Milk Gravy - see this entry and made "brain fritters" out of them. They were pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered about the patties they have on the can. We have never done it that way. We put it in a pan, break a couple of eggs over and cook til done (though I admit I am still unsure how long it should take, but I cook it for a while just in case). It is great in grits, which is how we usually eat it. But, it makes a fair sandwhich with some mustard on it.
ReplyDeleteWhenever we go home to NC we make sure to grab a few cans or if family visits they bring us some. Def give it another try but use the eggs and just scramble it around til done :)
The best way to eat Banner or Beverly sausage is to cook in saucepan and add egg to the mix. Then when done mixes with rice. Season to taste with pepper and salt.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to try it for the first time as I purchased it from a local Wal-Mart recently. It looks similar to Beverly Sausage, which I have eaten for most of my life. Similar to Banner Sausage, Beverly Sausage is very difficult to find because it isn't available throughout the year on a regular basis in my area. Whenever I purchase it, I do so in mass bunches at the store.
ReplyDeleteI will try this soon, and if it is anything like Beverly, then it must be awesome!
Great review!
Never tried or heard of Banner Sausage until I saw it at my friends house and he fixed some for me.... Yuck! Not my cup of tea,but He has several cans and I wounder if anyone has ever tried it mixed with ground chuck in meatloaf. I have used other sausage in my meat loaf before and it turned out great. Just wondering:)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! When I was growing up my mother would buy a can and scramble eggs in this and boiled rice. With a big pat of butter and salt and pepper this was so yummy. If you can get past the look and don't read the ingrediants is is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI like to put it in a kettle,add about a can or can and a half of water to it,bring to a boil and eat with biscuits. My MOM made sausage gravy out of it and that was good for many of a breakfast, along with biscuits.
ReplyDeleteMom's way of doing it was to use one can of sausage,add 1 and 1/2 cups of water,bring to a boil, dissolve 1/4 cup of cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of cold water and 2 tablespoons of canned milk, then stir into the boiling sausage and water,then stir till it thickens.Makes for some mighty fine eating.
I grew up eating this stuff, and my dad cooked it in a great way. He cooked plain, white rice with a bit of a soupy consistency. Then he emptied a can of Banner sausage in our iron skillet until heated through on medium heat (about 5 minutes). He scrambled up some eggs, and served all of it on a plate - either together or separately. It was delicious.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of anyone trying to cook this stuff into patties like fresh sausage before! :)
First of all I have been looking for Banner sausage every since I left Fayetteville, NC. How it is explained first on this webpage I have never eaten it like that. You do not fry like a normal sausage, I know the label on the can is confusing. You place it in a sauce pan and let it fry down or melt down (however you choose to say it). That is how you prepare it. Or once it has melted down add eggs to it. Let eggs fry with it as it melts down. That is how we prepared Banner sausage.
ReplyDeleteI grow up on banner sausage too, my mom slice the sausage and dip the slices in a beaten egg with a little water and roll in flour then fry the sausage, it aways good. As a matter of fact, I am going to fry some now.
ReplyDeleteYou're not eating it right. The best way to eat banner sausage is to plop it in the ban ans stir it as it heats. It makes somewhat of a soup. Before you start the banner, start your grits! When the banner and grits are done, mix them together, add some butter, maybe some scrambled eggs to grits as well and you'll have a southern delicacy!
ReplyDeleteAaron Hornbuckle nailed it. Have your eggs on the side, pour some Banner over your grits, and have a side of toast and jam. Yum yum.
ReplyDeleteI just have to say I love this stuff every time I go south I stock up on this and yellow eyed beans! But to turn them in to patties you have to mix with egg and flour or corn meal! That is the best way to have it!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this stuff before, until I ran across some at the local Walmart in rural Maryland, outside of Baltimore - the dirt-cheap price left me skeptical, the ingredient list almost caused me to put the stuff back on the shelf and run, but then I got a close look at the illustration.
ReplyDeleteI don't normally like sausage, the stuff is a horror, but every now and then, I'm in the mood for sausage patties. I kind of pictured the cans containing four or five sausage patties - I wasn't really sure exactly how that worked, but trusted the label. The sausage patties on the label kind of sounded good at the moment, so I grabbed five cans for my "SHTF Shelf" - what could go wrong?
Well, after a day of splurging on some new furniture and going out to eat for lunch, I figured my extravagance for the week was over, and I decided to cook up some of the cheap stuff on that old SHTF Shelf. Macaroni and cheese sounded good, so I started with that, and then wished I had sausage patties to go with it, and regretted that I didn't have any frozen. But, wait! Banner sausage in a can - what could go wrong? (That question - you'd think I would learn and never ask it again!)
I popped the lid off and - well, no sausage patties. I can't quite describe my disappointment at what I saw. "It's... DOG FOOD." I still clung to the hope there were familiar patties in there somewhere, just like on the label, and tried to shake them out of the can. I don't have to tell you, this stuff does NOT shake out of the can. I turned the can over, smacked it around, slammed it on the counter - nothing would budge the creepy pink stuff from inside.
I just sort of left the can on the counter, and went to the Internet for help, and this is the first site I came across. Now, I just don't know what to do with this stuff - nothing in any of the comments made it sound any more attractive to me.
I may just write the open can off as a total loss, and chuck the unopened cans into a charity bin or something. I hate throwing anything away, but I have to draw a line somewhere, and this stuff...? NO, there's my line, at last....
First of all I would like to say I would choose Banner Sausage over traditional sausage any day. I grew up on it and love it. If you have never tried it and would like to, a few suggestions - Don't try to make patties out of it. just cook it in a small sauce pan, stirring until slightly browned. It is great with biscuits and gravy. One of my favorite ways to eat it is mixed with cooked oatmeal and scrambled eggs. If you have never tried it, I recommend trying it, if you can find it. I live in North Carolina and it is getting very hard to find around here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for trying Banner Brand Sausage, one of the great foods of the rural, poor south. I grew up in a country store in Eastern KY and we sold this all the time and frequently ate it at home. We can still get it in this area and I like to keep a can or two in the cabinet for those times when I want to have a high cholesterol breakfast reminiscent of my childhood. My wife, who grew up in Wisconsin, won't touch it. The people who say don't try to make patties with it are absolutely correct. When you open the can, slide a butter knife around the sides of the can and it will usually slide right out into a skillet. Heat it until it is hot, steaming, and runny. There is no way to judge exactly when it is "done". That is a matter of taste. Just cook it down a bit until it suits you. My favorite way to eat it is to also cook biscuits, real Cat Head Biscuits if you can cook that well. Put the biscuits, usually two, on a plate, then fry two sunny side up eggs in a separate skillet. Slide the eggs over the biscuits. Also heat a can of the thick, white, canned gravy. Pour the Banner Brand Sausage over the biscuits and eggs. Then pour the gravy over the whole pile and dig in. It is the breakfast of champions. It will stick to your ribs and you can log, break mules, gravel for catfish, hoe corn, house tobacco, or coon hunt all night. I am also intrigued by the way some people suggest combining it with rice. That just might work! But don't ever let the sight, smell, or ingredient list put you off. Banner Brand Sausage is a great southern food if you don't mind the cholesterol now and then. This post has made me commit to reading more of your blog. I expect to find one or two more good ideas here!
ReplyDeleteI think it was always been a great supplement to a biscuit and gravy breakfast. I like it cooked down until ALL of the juices have disappeared and it is rather dry. Now having said that let me add the disappointment I discovered in my most recent experience. IT IS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL! Whoever decided to add the mechanically separated chicken helped ruin it! The new color is disgusting(!) and the huge chunks of whatever (tripe, organ meat??, and unknown things destroyed the appearance! On top of all this is the taste being altered significantly from the early days.
ReplyDeleteI suggest that the food specialists for Banner Sausage quickly go back to the original recipe before 2001 and restore what once was a tasty breakfast treat! I will boycott every store I find selling this current product and lobby my feelings to everyone that will hear me that has eaten this product to refuse buying it in the future!
In the future companies should survey their customers for satisfaction before shoving a new taste and ingredient down their throat!
My suggestion is to quickly dig out the old original recipe and pass it around to all manufacturers of Banner Sausage to implement soonest and recall all current products that contains the new chicken ingredient, color and content ingredient texture (grind all tripe and stomach fatty tissue in minute (super fine size, not huge chunks of ugly fatty looking objects). Then make a public announcement that you made a huge mistake effecting southern lovers of Original Banner brand Sausage! Are you listening?
I buy Banner Sausage at Walmart for $1.50 per can. Makes a very good breakfast or "breakfast for dinner" meal before going all night catfishing. I cook it up on my camp stove. You can heat up banner sausage in a skillet with some butter for about 5-6 minutes, add about a 1/3 cup of flour mix in till all smooth, and add about a 1-1/4 cups of whole milk and heat up till bubbly make sure to stir until its thick. Add pepper. I like it poured over fresh cornbread or biscuits with a little ham and cheese slices inside and also with hot soft boiled eggs. Its also good like this over fresh baked bread, or crisp pie dough, stiff grits, and fried or mash potatoes. And I always have hot black coffee with my meal. and I always douse a lot of Louisiana Hot Sauce over the top. I am old school. I carry it in my mess kit. Have eaten it cold out of the can with a spoon and it ain't too bad that way neither. I have caught brim for bait with it too. Heat it up inside the can and its good for dipping crackers while yer waitin for the fish to bite. Done that many times too. from SGT. Mann
ReplyDeleteI'm in my 40s and grew up in North Carolina eating banner sausage, eggs and rice for breakfast or dinner. It is a childhood association but the banner sausage of today is not quite what I remembered it to be. I'm not sure if it's the recipe change or a change in my palate. My mom just heated in the pan and served it alongside rice and scrambled eggs.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a staple for poor North Carolinians.
The producers (Armour Star/Dial/Pinnacle) are still messing around with Banner Brand Sausage. The last can I purchased did not taste like the previous (3 months ago) can and the consistency was not the same. It still is about 180 degrees off from what I recall just a couple of years ago and definitely not the same it was before 2001. GO BACK to the Banner Sausage days of cereal added with natural juices ingredients: beef tripe, pork stomachs, partially defatted beef fatty tissue, beef heart meat, wheat flour, water, salt. Less than 2 percent: vinegar, natural flavorings, sodium nitrite. Armour Star/Dial/Pinnacle need to listen to the audience before we all find a SHTF product that does taste like the old Banner Sausage.
ReplyDeleteAll this is making me so hungry. I ordered mine through Wal-Mart online at a much higher price than you can find it in a store; that is, if you could find a store that sells it. I'm actually having it for breakfast in a few hours. Spoon it into a bowl, mix with plenty of self-rising flour; using a tbsp, spoon into frying pan with cooking oil. Mine end up looking like patties. Delicious!!
ReplyDeleteEveryone that has experienced the OLD Banner Brand must comment to Armour Star/Dial/Pinnacle to restore the original recipe or we will begin looking for a replacement. Beverly Sausage is a good start!!!
ReplyDeleteI think the banner has gotten so bad that I went to Beverly brand. I remember momma took a little cornmeal and flour and egg and mixed it to make patties but they ruin everything with chicken.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this blog. I purchased some for my food storage and decided I should try it. Lol, so you know I just went through what you described.
Oh my! I couldn't believe what it looked like either! Having never had it before... it was frickin scary!
Before taking a bite I googled Banner sausage to find out if it was supposed to look like the gross mess it was and found your blog.
I was cooking hash browns and eggs and wanted to use this "sausage" to make gravy, but after seeing it I figured I'd just brown it.
Anyway, my dog and cat like it. I feel blessed that, unlike other readers here, I did not grow up on it.
Being born into old mormonism we didn't know about processed canned meats let alone eat any.
And the smell! I can still smell it even though I've opened up the doors and windows, is nauseating.