Beginning with breakfast meats seemed a wise way to begin: If I hated/couldn’t stomach the sides of meat, there was still plenty of eggy and french fried goodness to enjoy. I’m still wary of ordering a big ol’ steamin hunk o’ meat for my main meal. Baby steps to the elevator.

So I started the year with bacon, and yesterday at our favorite local diner, I noticed the sausages looked pretty good — not those sad little links you see some places, but what looked like nice, fat, fresh sausage (from what I know, which admittedly is little). I added a side to my eggs and toast. I’ve had chicken and turkey sausage, so I knew the basics of what I was getting into. I thought it wouldn’t be that different, but I have to say it was — it was (to state the obvious) more pork-y in flavor, but also more juicy. The casing had a tight snap which made for a pleasing bite, and the inside was tender and tasty. Even better than eating it alone was having a bite with toast and egg. Me likey.

Today to finish the battle of the breakfast meat, I tried ham with my eggs and sweet-potato fries. Ham is definitely the most recognizable as flesh of my forays so far. No pretending it’s not meat, it looks like a cross-section of muscle. Which I guess it is.  This was the most pork-y tasting of all, and hella salty. I am a girl who literally eats salt plain (I used to shove those little paper packets of salt in my mouth and suck on them when my parents weren’t keeping an eagle eye on me), so this should appeal to me, but I was not into it. My meat-tour-guide/husband tasted it and reported that this was typical but not especially good ham. It was better as part of a egg-toast-ham bite, but the ham was still most of what I tasted even in this combo. I could see how it would be good as a flavor note or part of a sandwich with some strong cheese (swiss or something), but I did not love my eggs and ham. I may retry it here or there. I just won’t eat them anywhere.

So the surprising winner of the breakfast meat battle is…. sausage!