A family friend visiting from the east coast introduced us to this most unusual sausage we've never heard of in our life. It's affectionately named Dan Doodle, a.k.a. Tom Thumb.
Here's the complete dish he prepared for us just the other night...
The Dan Doodle slices are (obviously) those meatloaf-lookin' critters at the 6 o'clock spot. He says this is a traditional southern food from North-eastern Carolina. You can only find this sausage in small mom 'n pop stores; never in large supermarkets or warehouse clubs.
It's prepared with pork meat (no innards except the casing) and plenty of spices including sage and red pepper flakes, all stuffed in the small intestine of a hog, then tied at both ends and hung to dry and cure. Some are smoked and some are just dry cured. This one he brought was just dry-cured. It's fairly cheap, costing just a few dollars a pound.
To cook the Dan Doodle, you you simply boil it in salted water until heated through, remove, then add cabbage into the water and cook that down until soft.
Traditionally he says, it's served over the cabbage, with boiled eggs on the side that have sweet pickle relish mixed into the yolk section and stuffed together with the whites, as shown on this plate. There's actually a special serving plate that has indentions around a center for the egg accompaniments.
Along with that are beets, sweet potatoes and boiled fingerling potatoes.
Let me say, this Dan Doodle sausage taste a bit strange by itself; good, but strange. Yet with those relish-stuffed eggs.. oh boy is this a WINNER! It's salted on the medium side, with a mild heat from the pepper flakes and sort of complex spice background. More on the dry than the oily (fatty) side. Again, by itself sort of weird, but with the whole dish, fantastic!
The whole dish together remiinds me of Irish (American) Corned Beef and Cabbage, and for good reason. He says many Irish settlers made Carolina their first home, which is probably who this southern dish originated from.
Anyone else out there familiar with or tried Dan Doodle?
Here's the complete dish he prepared for us just the other night...
The Dan Doodle slices are (obviously) those meatloaf-lookin' critters at the 6 o'clock spot. He says this is a traditional southern food from North-eastern Carolina. You can only find this sausage in small mom 'n pop stores; never in large supermarkets or warehouse clubs.
It's prepared with pork meat (no innards except the casing) and plenty of spices including sage and red pepper flakes, all stuffed in the small intestine of a hog, then tied at both ends and hung to dry and cure. Some are smoked and some are just dry cured. This one he brought was just dry-cured. It's fairly cheap, costing just a few dollars a pound.
To cook the Dan Doodle, you you simply boil it in salted water until heated through, remove, then add cabbage into the water and cook that down until soft.
Traditionally he says, it's served over the cabbage, with boiled eggs on the side that have sweet pickle relish mixed into the yolk section and stuffed together with the whites, as shown on this plate. There's actually a special serving plate that has indentions around a center for the egg accompaniments.
Along with that are beets, sweet potatoes and boiled fingerling potatoes.
Let me say, this Dan Doodle sausage taste a bit strange by itself; good, but strange. Yet with those relish-stuffed eggs.. oh boy is this a WINNER! It's salted on the medium side, with a mild heat from the pepper flakes and sort of complex spice background. More on the dry than the oily (fatty) side. Again, by itself sort of weird, but with the whole dish, fantastic!
The whole dish together remiinds me of Irish (American) Corned Beef and Cabbage, and for good reason. He says many Irish settlers made Carolina their first home, which is probably who this southern dish originated from.
Anyone else out there familiar with or tried Dan Doodle?
