Comments (0) Best Improbably Delicious Sausage - 2010
Show Dogs' pickled hot link
1020 Market
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-558-9560
The premise sounds disgusting: The cooks at Show Dogs stick hot links in a chile-laced apple-cider vinegar brine and let 'em float — for two weeks. When you order one, they fish a pink, puffy sausage out of the jar and toss it on the grill. As much as the phrase "pickled meat" might make you think of cueritos (skin) or Southern pickled pig lips, the brine doesn't turn the sausage into something gummy and acidic. Instead, it simply intensifies the flavors of the meat. There's a tang to the link, for sure, but it hits you after the considerable grill smoke, garlic, and spice. Pressed into an Acme roll with peppery arugula and a blue-cheese sauce, the pickled link becomes a flavor bomb.






























