SuperSaus

Normally, when we have sausage, we have it from a package that's commercially made. Each patty is about an inch and a half across, a little less than half an inch thick. They're the ones that never, ever cook evenly -- the edges always cook faster than the center, sometimes dramatically faster. I found by accident that nuking them first will cook the center a bit, which seems to help the process, but still, you have to keep an eye on them. And they go from just barely cooked to charred very quickly.

This morning, we had sausage that we bought at an area butcher shop. Hand-mixed, hand-made. Each patty was more like a hamburger patty -- about four inches across, about an inch thick. Massive. When we cooked it, we figured it would take a while, but even after cooking a long time, we had to nuke it to turn the center from pink to cooked. Still, it was worth it. The taste was phenomenal. I don't know what kind of meat was in there, but I know that it was mixed in with bits of apple. Cooked, it didn't so much char as caramelize -- sweet and flavorful, all the way through.

I don't think we'll go routinely -- the butcher's a fair distance from here -- but, wow.