1.Toulouse

B420/kg from Gargantua
This French sausage has a few variations, but most often contains various cuts of pork, garlic, goose fat, dry white wine and a touch of spice like black pepper, mace or nutmeg. The preferred way of cooking it is to fry or braise it, as in a cassoulet, a French stew involving loads of duck fat and white beans.

2. Bratwurst

B87/2 pieces from Bei Otto
This German sausage has up to forty varieties, depending on the region, but all are made from either pork or veal. The most well-known variety comes from Nuremberg, where the recipe involves pork and fresh marjoram. While not as big as some of the other varieties of bratwurst, a couple of these can be a meal in their own right, especially when served with a nice, starchy potato salad. Other sharp-flavored condiments like spicy mustard and sauerkraut are also wonderful complements to it’s meaty aromas.
• Next to the Bei Otto deli is also their restaurant (see Essentials), where you can have them cook you up a bratwurst, or several other German sausages.

3. Chorizo

B320/kg from Villa Supermarket
While the European versions of chorizo are dried and cured (making them ideal cold cuts), the Mexican counterpart, originally developed to counter the high cost of importing chorizo from the Old World, is a fresh sausage made with minced pork, fat, white wine, vinegar and paprika (often smoked). You can grill it whole, or cut open the casing and sear the minced meat to add to a sauce or use it in a burrito.
• Good Mexican chorizo can be found at La Monita Taqueria (Mahatun Plaza, Phloen Chit Rd., 02-650-9581), as a filling in their tacos, burritos and in their choriqueso (B290).

4. Italian sausage

B320/kg from Villa Supermarket
This is really an American, of course, as the adjective “Italian” wouldn’t clarify much among the myriad options of cured and fresh sausages available in Italy. An Italian sausage, then, refers to a fresh pork sausage with no more than 35% fat whose dominant flavor comes from the addition of anise or fennel seeds, giving it a sweet, fragrant quality. There’s also a spicy version, with little or no sugar and lots more red pepper. These go great in pasta sauces and as pizza toppings.
• The Horse Says Moo (Sukhumvit Soi 33, 02-662-0402) does a nice tagliatelle with Italian sausage (B340).

5. American breakfast sausage

B265/pack of Johnsonville from Villa Supermarket
Not to be confused with the greasy, off-pink hotdogs you get at cheap hotel breakfasts, a real American breakfast sausage is a poor man’s delicacy, chock full of pork fat (some say at least 1/3 of the sausage should be fat), coarsely ground pork, red pepper (often cayenne), dried herbs (especially sage, but sometimes dried marjoram and thyme as well) and some sort of sweetness (such as a bit of brown sugar). You can also have these as flat patties rather than links, and, like a true American, try pouring maple syrup on them.

6. Cumberland

B420/kg from Gargantua
Recently awarded PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status by the European Union, the Cumberland sausage is a classic banger from northeastern England, involving several cuts of pork, fat, bread crumbs and sweeter spices like mace and nutmeg. Though traditionally made as one very long, coiling sausage, you’re more likely to find it in Bangkok as the more manageable chain. (And with the PGI now it effect, those not made in the county of Cumbria will no longer be able to put the word Cumberland on the packaging. Good thing you now know the ingredients.)
•Gastro 1/6 (RMA Institute, Soi Sai Namthip 2, Sukhumvit Soi 22, 089-985-3655) uses locally-made Cumberland sausages in many of their breakfast dishes.

7. Merguez

B590/kg from Gargantua
The merguez is a North African sausage and as such is made with lamb. They are quite red in color, due to the paprika in their ingredients. Some versions also have sumac, a spice native to the Mediterranean region that lends color and lemon-like notes, while Eastern spices and herbs, like cumin, coriander and fennel are also often included. It’s often served with a tajine or other couscous dishes, but in Europe, it’s eaten in a baguette or breadroll with mustard, like a hotdog.
•Check out the couscous beldi (B540), a kind of tajine-like stew, at Crepes and Co. (18/1 Sukhumvit Soi 12, 02-653-3990) for a taste of merguez in action.

Essentials

Bei Otto 1 Sukhumvit Soi 20, 02-260-0869. Open daily 8am-midnight
Villa Supermarket Sukhumvit Soi 33, 02-662-1000. Open 24 hours.
Gargantua 10/2 Convent Soi 6, Silom Rd., 02-630-4577