Sep

Chineese Links- the Mystery Unraveled

Recently my mate and I discovered “Chineese links”. He brought them home one day and my eyes widened in fear and delight at the sight of these ridiculously un-natural looking sausages. Bright red in color, they taste of sausage and sweet and sour sauce. They are also known as Sinbala. This seems to be an ambiguous term as it is nearly as general as the term sausage itself; however it generally refers to a very sweet sausage.

They are relatively new to the meat sections in our local Vermont markets. Many of the people I have mentioned them to seemed oblivious to their existence.

Sinbala are a funny sort of sausage in that their flavor is not enhanced at all by mustard. In fact I discourage the addition of mustard is it seems to hinder one’s ability to taste the sausage. Also… it really wasn’t that good. The sausages, with their hidden sweet and sour surprise are good enough all on their own.

Tonight they made an interesting addition to a unique dish. Like so many weekday meals at our house, the body of the meal consisted of fresh ravioli. We are fortunate enough to have them fresh in our market, produced by Vermont Fresh Pasta Company located in Proctorsville, Vermont. They offer up a seasonal selection of delicious fillings. Tonight we opted for roasted sweet potato and pumpkin.

We adorned the plump ravioli with pan fried Sinbala, sautéed mushrooms and broccoli; topping the whole thing off with crispy sage and herbed brown butter.

As with last night, the whole thing was over indulgent. It was so delicious though. The sweet sausage and sweet potato played wonderfully off of the salty mushrooms and butter. The crispy sage and other herbs in the butter added texture and depth to the dish. Perhaps it is the feeling that winter and hibernation are around the bend that is causing our instinct to get the best of us. Or perhaps we are just being bad this week. Tomorrow evening I will be dining on chocolate fondue, cheese and wine. So… I assure you that the indulgence will end Saturday morning. That is, until Sunday when I enjoy something delicious while catching the Giant vs. Redskins game.

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