Our 10 Best Sausages

Sausages originated as a way to preserve meats past their "expire by" dates sometime during human pre-history, and turned out to be the best way to hide animal parts that we didn't necessarily want to look at. Nearly every culinary culture has them, with a flavoring scheme best suited to the tastes of their respective cuisines: The English have their pallid bangers; the French their garlicky saucisson; the Chinese their sticky-sweet links, redolent of star anise; the South Americans their chorizo (and chourico), laced with wine; the Thais their sour sausage; the Germans their doughty wursts; the Balkans their cevapis -- the list goes on and on.

We've scoured the landscape for the best examples of this diverse foodstuff, and left no stone unturned in our quest for tube-steak deliciousness. The only limitation we imposed upon ourselves was that all the sausages must be served in a restaurant, so, sadly, we had to omit Faicco's brilliant soppressata -- we'll save store-bought examples for a future list.

Please examine our list critically, and let us know the sausages we've missed -- we'll add them to the Readers' Recommendations page.

Next: The runners-up to Our 10 Best Sausages