And now, as requested ...

Vienna sausages!




Oh. My. How my taste buds have changed in the last 30 years!



I had a request from Trixie in Transit to post about Vienna sausages.

"Sure," I thought. "I used to love those when I was a kid -- even in college!" So I went to the store and discovered there is a whole range of Viennas these days. There's a couple of major manufacturers -- Armour and Hormel. And each has its own special types of Viennas now. You can get the regular, the light, the chicken, the barbecue ... I think I even saw a turkey version.

Hmmmm. I stood there looking at the section with these tiny 5-ounce cans filled with seven mini-weenies. Finally I decided you can't beat the original, so I tossed a can in the cart. Hmmm. Two for 89 cents? Why not try a barbecue? So for research purposes, I invested about a buck, with tax.



Well. There's a buck that'll never fund my retirement, but if I eat these things again, I won't live to retirement age!

Here's what Wikipedia says about these tubular meat treats:

"Vienna sausage is a term used for a canned sausage. The term means essentially the same thing as Wiener, as the latter means Viennese, and is short for Viennese sausage.

"Canned Vienna sausages are generally made using a simplified adaptation of the process used to mass-produce other sausages. Meats, such as chicken, beef, and pork, are ground finely and mixed with salt and spices, especially mustard, and formed into a batter, which is poured into a long casing and smoked. The sausages are cooked, chopped into equal size segments, and placed into tins or jars, usually without the casings, and, with broth or brine added, processed the same as other canned goods. They also figure into the diet of many in the US."

Each one of these little dudes has 45 to 50 calories (I think the barbecue versions have more calories because of the little glop of sauce that coats them. And guess what -- a serving size is THREE sausages! What??? THREE out of SEVEN? Well, that makes it easy, huh?

Things I can tell you about these:

In Oklahoma and other states in our region, "Vienna sausages" are simply called "Viennas." And no, it's not pronounced like the city in Austria. It's "vi-EEE-na" or "vi-EEE-nees."

Babies love them. They are a great finger food for little ones transitioning into solid foods. But do good parents really want to feed their babies a weenie made of chicken, beef and pork that's been trimmed down and jammed into a can?

They used to be recommended as part of a weight-loss diet, back in the '70s. (Hence them being a part of my college diet -- that and the fact that they are so cheap.) It makes a little sense. Easy portion control, handy protein source... easy to carry while on the go.

Anyway, here's supper:






Wanna bite? It was the perfect 400-calorie accompianment to tonight's edition of "American Idol." Canned meat. Yum.