Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Product Review: John Morrell: Braunschweiger

Posted by Matt at 10:59 AM
At some point in my childhood I stopped liking bologna (or perhaps I never liked it at all). One day as an adult, however, I had a sudden craving for a bologna sandwich. So I made myself one and ate it. And I liked it. It tastes exactly the same as I remember it tasting, so I have trouble reconciling my childhood revulsion with my adulthood enjoyment. Contrast this with Vienna sausages [1], which I disliked as a child and I still dislike them as an adult. Anyway, at one point I was walking down one of the several meat aisles at Woodman's [2] and I spotted a processed meat product called braunschweiger. It is a pork liver sausage that originated in Germany.[3] I was intrigued, so I bought some and took it home. I expected it to taste similar to bologna or Vienna sausages, but be spreadable.

Turn's out it's still a little too solid to spread. I tried eating it several different ways [4]:


On a sandwich with Swiss cheese, onion, mustard, and tomato. It went nicely with the other ingredients. When prepared this way, it tasted similar to bologna. I liked it better than bologna but not as well as ham or roast beef.

On a cracker like a pâté. When prepared this way, it tastes similar to Vienna sausages, but smokier (probably because it has bacon in it). I liked it better than Vienna sausages.


On toast with a fried egg and mustard. Prepared this way it didn't really taste like bologna or Vienna sausages.


On a toasted everything bagel with mustard, cream cheese, onion, and tomato. Prepared this way it tasted similar to bologna.

Overall I liked braunschweiger, though I probably won't eat it again on crackers.

Notes:

[1] My family calls these "Viener wieners".

[2] This store is enormous. Their produce section is as large as most normal grocery stores! They had 6 aisles of cheese! See https://www.woodmans-food.com/.

[3] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braunschweiger (sausage).

[4] I found lots of serving suggestions in this forum.
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2 comments:

  1. RachelApril 5, 2020 at 1:41 PM

    One of my kids' teachers says that your taste buds change every seven years. I might be getting some nuance of that wrong, but if that's true, maybe that's why you like bologna now. Or maybe you could do a "mythbusters" on why it's not true..

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  2. MattApril 15, 2020 at 12:15 PM

    I've heard that, too. And I feel that I've experienced something like that. I can remember liking Trix as a kid, but then I stopped liking them because I thought they'd changed the flavor to be like Fruity Pebbles. Now I like them again because they taste like they did when I was a kid. In reality, the recipe probably hasn't changed—just my tastebuds.

    Another example: I can remember liking sour cream and onion Pringles as a kid, but then I stopped liking them because I thought they'd changed the flavor to be like sour cream and onion Lays. Now I like them again because they taste like they did when I was a kid. In reality, the recipe probably hasn't changed—just my tastebuds.

    That said, I don't remember the flavor of bologna changing. It tastes the same way now as I remember it tasting when I was a kid. I just like it now.

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