Vienna Sausage was a staple in my house growing up as Mother and Daddy always had cans in the pantry. It was great for fishing, hunting, lunches or just a quick snack. I liked it with soda crackers and, if I had some available, liked dipping mine in Heinz ketchup. I’ve noticed that the Swanson chicken broth , that we use at the compounding pharmacy for some pet prescriptions, smells just like Vienna Sausages.
I’ve pointed this out, but the younger folks don’t have any idea what I’m talking about. They are a thin parboiled (scalded) sausage traditionally made of pork and beef in a casing of sheep intestine and then low temperature smoked. Beginning in 1903, in the United States, Vienna Sausage came to mean small , shorter, canned wieners instead than link sausage.
They contain salt and various spices, such as cloves, coriander, nutmeg, garlic powder, onion powder and finely ground, dry red pepper. Vienna Sausages come in cans in a gelatin, like aspic (a gelatin made from a meat stock or consommé). They also offer them with flavorings such as smoke, mustard, chili or barbecue sauce. You always have to open the can, pour off the gelatin and then either slide the sausages out or, my favorite, stab them one at a time.
