Stuffed With Flavor

Aidells Sausage Co., 1575 Minnesota St., San Francisco, Calif. 94107. (800) 234-2334

Brochure available, MasterCard or Visa

“I was hooked,” says Bruce Aidells of the first night he made his own sausages. At the time he was doing cancer research in London and living on pub grub. “It took me most of the night to stuff all I’d made, but the next day I fried them up and sat down to a hearty and delicious meal for the first time in months.”

Soon after, Aidells renounced science for sausages, and he moved to San Francisco. His 15 kinds of sausage, which are cold-smoked on natural hickory wood and contain no MSG, no binders, no extenders, no fillers and no preservatives, are the best sausages you can buy.

My favorite Aidells sausage is Burmese curry--poultry flavored with red curry, garam masala , cilantro and onions. It’s 88% lean and it really packs a punch. The smoked duck and turkey sausage, made from farm-raised white Peking duck and turkey mixed with a blend of herbs, is great on the grill, served with a side of potato salad.

Aidells sausages start at about $6 a pound; minimum mail order is five pounds, plus shipping. A custom sampler, any combination totaling six packages of sausage, runs $49.95 plus $6 shipping.