Bottom Line: The Sabrett Hot Sausage is a street food classic that also delivers some heat.
New York City is not necessarily known as a destination for spicy foods, but it is a city with a diverse selection of cuisines, so there are plenty of opportunities to find something that will bring the heat. And of course, one of the best locations to find something with some spice is on many of the street corners where you can find pretzels, gyros, hot dogs, and hot sausages. While visiting the town, I had plans to check out at least one of their hot dog carts, and when I saw the hot sausage at the Sabrett stand, I knew that was the spicy selection to try.
Sabrett is a regional supplier of food products and they are probably best known for their hotdogs which they claim to be Number 1 in New York. Their carts are also all across the city, easily identified with their trademark yellow and blue umbrellas. I looked at the picture of that chili cheese dog on the stand and was tempted, but that hot sausage was calling my name. That comes topped with Sabrett’s spicy mustard, their onions in sauce, and then ketchup and sauerkraut for good measure. This is a New York street corner masterpiece!
The taste of the sausage is somewhere between a hot dog and Polish sausage. It’s rich and meaty with the requisite saltiness, and the casing has that expected snap while the meat inside is tender. It also has a good smokiness, though that could come from grilling it up right there on the cart. Sabrett’s onions are in a tomatoey type sauce which brings a nice bit of tang. (I’m going to have to find me a jar of those to take home). And of course, the sauerkraut delivers some tartness while the sweetness from the ketchup and the bite from the mustard bring this all together.
And while you may think those Northerners in NYC don’t go for the heat, this thing packed a punch. It was approaching the Hot heat level and you better have a drink in hand to cool down after taking a few bites. The heat lingered and my lips were burning after finishing off that sausage, so I don’t know if that spicy mustard brought the extra burn or if maybe there were a few drops of hot sauce added to this. (Sabrett does not do their own hot sauce, so it could have been a specialty of the cart I visited).
The food carts do not provide any nutritional information on their products (you thought they would?), and if you asked the guy doing the cooking, he would probably give you the appropriate New York “Get outa here!”. But needless to say, this is not health food. It’s full of fat, salt, sugar, carbs, and everything you shouldn’t be eating. But it is oh so good in the way that street food should be.
I don’t know if you are going to find Sabrett carts outside of New York, but if you see one I recommend stopping by for a quick bite. And I’m not certain how far beyond Gotham you can buy their products in stores. But I do see them available from third-party sellers (with plenty of mark-up), and if I can’t find a jar of those onion in the sauce at a nearby store, I will certainly order those plus a package of sausage if possible. And I will definitely make it a point to stop at the Sabrett carts each time I am in town.