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The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat: A Cookbook
The best in wurst from around the world, with enough sausage-themed stories and pictures stuffed between these two covers to turn anyone into a forcemeat aficionado.Lucky Peach presents a cookbook as a scrapbook, stuffed with curious local specialties, like cevapi, a caseless sausage that’s traveled all the way from the Balkans to underneath the M tracks in Ridgewood, Queens; a look into the great sausage trails of the world, from Bavaria to Texas Hill Country and beyond; and the ins and outs of making your own sausages, including fresh chorizo.
434 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 28, 2020
I wish the recipes were less prominent in this pseudo cookbook, strangely enough, because the stories told by the authors about their discovery of different styles of sausage, as well as the humorous descriptions of the many varieties of sausage from region to region, were entertaining enough on their own. The recipes were telling in and of themselves, but only of the fact that my idle dreaming of learning to make homemade sausage that this book inspired is too difficult a task for any old person. In that way, Lucky Peach taught me something even more about sausage than how much guts and gore go into a link; now I also know that the best way to experience all of the grilling and stuffing is reading this book, because stuffing a sausage casing correctly is harder than I thought!
August 20, 2016
We listen to lots of podcasts when we travel to pass the miles. Our favorites are This American Life, Fresh Air, and The Splendid Table.
OK, so maybe the latter show is more of a personal favorite, but The Hubs plays along and listens to whatever I pull up. Knowing this, I try to pick particular shows that I hope he will find interesting. On the way back from Iowa on Memorial Day this year, I pulled up a Splendid Table that I thought would be about charcuterie. It was an interview with Chris Ying, of Lucky Peach fame to highlight his recent book, The Wurst of Lucky Peach (A treasury of encased meat).
We both listened attentively to the interview. (You can listen to it here.)
I told The Hubs that I actually had this book at home and was just waiting until I had time to write a review of it. (I received a complimentary copy of it from Blogging for Books.)
“Does it have sausage recipes in it? Can we make our own? Have you read it yet?”
I haven’t heard him this excited about a blogging project in a long time.
As soon as we got home, we sat on the patio and perused through it together.
He immediately ordered a meat grinder. (I kid you not.) And, I now also have a “hank” of natural sausage casings in my refrigerator. (Read: Enough pig intestines to make 100+ sausages.
We do things big ’round here.
As we begin our foray into sausage making, The Wurst will come in quite handy. Not only did it spark our involvement in a new hobby, but it is also a pretty complete compendium of all things encased.
If you have ever read the publication Lucky Peach, you know that Ying and the other editors have a sense of humor. No censorship is needed, but you will smile at the book sections entitled “Let Your Sausage Loose” and “Play With Your Wiener.”
The first part of the book is truly a “Sausage Quest” with discussion and descriptions of sausages of the world.
“Detective Sausage on the Case” includes recipes and techniques for making everything from Mortadella to Boudin Blanc. (The Hubs is most excited about the Red Hot or “Texas Hot Gut” sausages, pp 172-173.)
Other recipes include hot dog recipes like Green Bay Brats and the ever popular Hot Dog Chili. No Wurst book could be complete without techniques and tips for grilling, braising, smoking and stuffing.
I am sure we will be stuffing and grilling soon.
In fact, The Hubs wants to create another blog: From Grind to Grill. He is truly enamored with this entire sausage making endeavor. His enthusiasm is contagious. I can’t wait to make Käsekrainer, an emulsified sausage with beer and Emmentaler cheese! (pp 190-191).
OK, so maybe the latter show is more of a personal favorite, but The Hubs plays along and listens to whatever I pull up. Knowing this, I try to pick particular shows that I hope he will find interesting. On the way back from Iowa on Memorial Day this year, I pulled up a Splendid Table that I thought would be about charcuterie. It was an interview with Chris Ying, of Lucky Peach fame to highlight his recent book, The Wurst of Lucky Peach (A treasury of encased meat).
We both listened attentively to the interview. (You can listen to it here.)
I told The Hubs that I actually had this book at home and was just waiting until I had time to write a review of it. (I received a complimentary copy of it from Blogging for Books.)
“Does it have sausage recipes in it? Can we make our own? Have you read it yet?”
I haven’t heard him this excited about a blogging project in a long time.
As soon as we got home, we sat on the patio and perused through it together.
He immediately ordered a meat grinder. (I kid you not.) And, I now also have a “hank” of natural sausage casings in my refrigerator. (Read: Enough pig intestines to make 100+ sausages.
We do things big ’round here.
As we begin our foray into sausage making, The Wurst will come in quite handy. Not only did it spark our involvement in a new hobby, but it is also a pretty complete compendium of all things encased.
If you have ever read the publication Lucky Peach, you know that Ying and the other editors have a sense of humor. No censorship is needed, but you will smile at the book sections entitled “Let Your Sausage Loose” and “Play With Your Wiener.”
The first part of the book is truly a “Sausage Quest” with discussion and descriptions of sausages of the world.
“Detective Sausage on the Case” includes recipes and techniques for making everything from Mortadella to Boudin Blanc. (The Hubs is most excited about the Red Hot or “Texas Hot Gut” sausages, pp 172-173.)
Other recipes include hot dog recipes like Green Bay Brats and the ever popular Hot Dog Chili. No Wurst book could be complete without techniques and tips for grilling, braising, smoking and stuffing.
I am sure we will be stuffing and grilling soon.
In fact, The Hubs wants to create another blog: From Grind to Grill. He is truly enamored with this entire sausage making endeavor. His enthusiasm is contagious. I can’t wait to make Käsekrainer, an emulsified sausage with beer and Emmentaler cheese! (pp 190-191).
June 14, 2023
This isn't the be-all, end-all sausage book, but it's a damn fun read. Its voice is very much that familiar LP voice we've all come to know. The recipes vary wildly in difficulty, but the book does a fine job of making sure there is some content available to readers who aren't willing to take the plunge and make their own sausage... or stuff their own sausage... or smoke their own sausage. There are plenty of fun things to do with readily available sausages, and plenty of stuff that might just be fun for a casual cook to read.
Check out hotdogsandcaviar.blogspot.com for my more complete review when it drops.
Check out hotdogsandcaviar.blogspot.com for my more complete review when it drops.
August 2, 2018
Fun read. Some chapters are more about toppings than actual sausages, but that's okay. As with all LP stuff it's more an investigation into a particular food than a recipe book but with the limited recipes in there I am hungry to get my hands on a meat grinder and sausage stuffer. The Mexican chorizo recipe is divine, the spice mix can also be used for vegan Mexican chorizo. Can't wait to try the rest.
September 18, 2018
I have a special love for this book and author Chris Ying since I attended a class, pre-release, held at Google HQ. It was there that I first learned how to make tradritional chorizo and a green chorizo (two of the few recipes in the book), which began my intense charcuterie phase. The pages touching on various sausages and fixings around the world just added to the list of things to try to make myself.
Note: This is not a cookbook but a study of regional sausages
Note: This is not a cookbook but a study of regional sausages
December 30, 2019
Lucky Peach books are some of the funnest cookbooks published. I get a loud chuckle on every page. Every single one. And better yet, they are truly informative. This book is exactly what the subtitle says it is: a curated treasury of some of the world's best and weirdest sausages. I ding them a star because of the cheap tag-on recipes at the back ... no one cares, really. This book will live and die with the writing, not the recipes.
April 9, 2019
I think this book does exactly what it sets out to do, and it's a surprisingly engaging collection of writing about encased meats! My favorite parts were the discussions of all of the fermentation that goes on in preserving the meats, as well as the similarities and differences of sausages around the world. I wish the illustrations had been a bit more unique.
June 5, 2021
The authors fail the book’s promise: as a cookbook, it lacks recipes; as a travelogue it is insular and shallow. The recipes merely present sausage ingredients, sometimes with some meager cultural context; the book doesn’t explore the topic effectively
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September 14, 2022Not what I thought it was going to be, but interesting.
February 12, 2026
This book definitely showcases a wide variety of meats from around the world!
May 5, 2016
The Wurst of Lucky Peach is a fantastic book that fully lives up to its inside description--"a scrapbook, stuffed with curious local specialties...a looking into the great sausage trails of the world...and the ins and outs of making your own sausage." This is not a straight-up cookbook, though it does contain some sausage making techniques/tips and recipes in the later part of the book.
Part 1: Sausage Quest consists of a variety of definitions, rants, and tubesteak crusade essays/photo essays. All the information (anecdotal and factual) that one could ever want on the sausages of places like North America, Thailand, Australia, Sweden, Asia, South America, and Europe. Each encased meat definition incudes where you can find it, what its made of/how it's prepared, and a brief, colorful explanation. Part 2: Sausage Rest covers sausage making, recipes, and practices.
The essays were both informative and humorous in content. In terms of design elements, it's hard to say what I enjoyed more--the pictures accompanying the definitions, or the pictures that accompanied the essays. In any event, the illustrative/pictorial elements definitely help to keep my interest all the way through sections that otherwise read a bit gross in description (for me, not others perhaps). The rants were also a nice touch. My favorite would have to be Ying's "No Beans in the Chili" (of which I heartedly agree), but the others are equally amusing.
I would recommend this book not just to sausage/encased meat aficionados but anyone who is interested in learning a bit more about the subject.
Personal Disclaimer: It is important for me to point out that I am only a casual sausage eater, and even then, I prefer loose, ground sausage to the encased varieties. Therefore, when selecting this book, I choose it in order to learn more about sausages around the world than I did to get recipes.
FTC Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Part 1: Sausage Quest consists of a variety of definitions, rants, and tubesteak crusade essays/photo essays. All the information (anecdotal and factual) that one could ever want on the sausages of places like North America, Thailand, Australia, Sweden, Asia, South America, and Europe. Each encased meat definition incudes where you can find it, what its made of/how it's prepared, and a brief, colorful explanation. Part 2: Sausage Rest covers sausage making, recipes, and practices.
The essays were both informative and humorous in content. In terms of design elements, it's hard to say what I enjoyed more--the pictures accompanying the definitions, or the pictures that accompanied the essays. In any event, the illustrative/pictorial elements definitely help to keep my interest all the way through sections that otherwise read a bit gross in description (for me, not others perhaps). The rants were also a nice touch. My favorite would have to be Ying's "No Beans in the Chili" (of which I heartedly agree), but the others are equally amusing.
I would recommend this book not just to sausage/encased meat aficionados but anyone who is interested in learning a bit more about the subject.
Personal Disclaimer: It is important for me to point out that I am only a casual sausage eater, and even then, I prefer loose, ground sausage to the encased varieties. Therefore, when selecting this book, I choose it in order to learn more about sausages around the world than I did to get recipes.
FTC Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
April 21, 2016
"I love sausage. I might be at the world's greatest lobster restaurant, but if there's sausage on the menu, I would get the sausage." - is in the first paragraph of introduction, and I feel exactly the same. No lobster can come even close to a good tasty wurst. "The Wurst of Lucky Peach" takes us on a wurst historic and geographic tour around the world. Some sausage rich parts of the world are covered better and some not so well, but overall the book is packed with fun information. Churchkhela caught my eye as I was surprised to see it in the wurst book, because it is not a wurst and has nothing to do with it. Yes, it looks like a stick but it is a dessert, those are walnuts on a thread covered with grape juice. As I kept reading, this wurst tour book/cook book was almost a page turner, until it started to have too much personality for me: "Ketchup is an acceptable condiment on hot dogs, but only for children and degenerates. And not for my children" - My Dad and All the Dads of the Greater Chicagoland Area.", not to mention some profanity. I like cheeky, but only if it does not become obnoxious.
The recipes take less than half of the book, they range from making sausage from scratch to sauces, to Wurst Practices, such as grilling, braising, smoking, and stuffing sausage.
The recipes take less than half of the book, they range from making sausage from scratch to sauces, to Wurst Practices, such as grilling, braising, smoking, and stuffing sausage.
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November 27, 2016The main thing I learned from this book is how thoroughly the industrial-grade American hot dog has infiltrated cuisines worldwide. From Thailand to Uruguay, Australia to Sweden, our shared humanity is most commonly celebrated by drunk people feeling the need to chow down on a grilled red hot with local breads and toppings.
There is no way to make sausage eating and categorizing very interesting, and I'm sure that goes double for hipster "food writers" (as I'm sure they'd style themselves) from Brooklyn, so the first half of the book is alternately dull and annoying. Sausage MAKING is pretty easy to make interesting though, and thus the book gains in strength as it goes along because it starts to be more and more about making sausage till at the end there are actual recipes. Reader should be warned that these are Lucky Peach recipes, which is to say they aren't exactly intended to be cooked by normal humans... and to be fair, they're pretty upfront about it. If you aren't the kind of person who will stash your mixer in the freezer or risk certain death to eat fermented pork balls, you're probably not Lucky Peach material.
For my money the best piece was the one about the changing character(s) of sausage-making in Austin TX.
There is no way to make sausage eating and categorizing very interesting, and I'm sure that goes double for hipster "food writers" (as I'm sure they'd style themselves) from Brooklyn, so the first half of the book is alternately dull and annoying. Sausage MAKING is pretty easy to make interesting though, and thus the book gains in strength as it goes along because it starts to be more and more about making sausage till at the end there are actual recipes. Reader should be warned that these are Lucky Peach recipes, which is to say they aren't exactly intended to be cooked by normal humans... and to be fair, they're pretty upfront about it. If you aren't the kind of person who will stash your mixer in the freezer or risk certain death to eat fermented pork balls, you're probably not Lucky Peach material.
For my money the best piece was the one about the changing character(s) of sausage-making in Austin TX.
June 20, 2016
We all know my weakness for awesome cookbooks and summer is officially here, so I thought a book about sausages would be perfect! Well, I was right and I was wrong. This book, while advertised as a cookbook, isn't a cookbook. In fact, it only has about 40 recipes. The book is far more about the history and types of sausage. Unfortunately, it feels like it's suffering from a bit of an identity crisis.
So, while a disappointment as a full fledged cookbook, this book is still fantastic. Honestly, it's worth it just to read the rants about ketchup and mustard. If you're interested in learning about types of sausage, the geography of sausage, or even read short travelogues done by people traveling for sausage, this full of personality book might be for you. If you're looking for a cookbook, give this one a pass and keep your eyes open for a book stuffed with sausage recipes. Stuffed..get it?
April 7, 2016
I did enjoy this book, but it felt kind of like it didn't know quite what it wanted to be. I was hoping this would be more in line with the excellent "101 Easy Asian Recipes," but it feels more like a big, hardbound issue of Luck Peach. It didn't have enough recipes to really be a cookbook; the guide to sausages didn't have enough info to be an actual reference (more pictures would have helped a lot); and many of travelogues were too short to really give you a feel for the places or the foods. The book does have a lot of personality, though, and it did get me really excited to eat and make some more sausages.
June 25, 2016
I love the size and practicality of this new cookbook! It will become a favourite amongst meat-loving cooks. I am so excited about all the various recipes within the pages of The Wurst of the Lucky Peach. This cookbook gives detailed instructions on making your own sausages of all types! This really is all you need to start providing your family and yourself with delicious homemade brats, sausages, chorizo, cevapi etc! I found this book informative yet easy to understand. The photos are, as always, excellent as well.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
July 13, 2016
The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat
Always in search of practical meat cookbooks this one went beyond my wildest dreams. Great pictures of mouth watering sausages to get you inspired. I also really enjoy the history of this food item. This book features a collection of sausages from around the globe. It starts with European sausages because that is what you imagine first. Right? Happy eating! And happy reading who those like me enjoy a good read of the history of food. If you do not know me I read every single word in a cookbook, nothing is skipped!
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
Always in search of practical meat cookbooks this one went beyond my wildest dreams. Great pictures of mouth watering sausages to get you inspired. I also really enjoy the history of this food item. This book features a collection of sausages from around the globe. It starts with European sausages because that is what you imagine first. Right? Happy eating! And happy reading who those like me enjoy a good read of the history of food. If you do not know me I read every single word in a cookbook, nothing is skipped!
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
May 20, 2016
This isn't a cookbook so much as a meditation on sausage. It's a nice idea. Unfortunately there's just so little substance. This book is mostly a group of guys being clever, but the problem is, they're just not as witty as they think they are.
April 19, 2016
YES I READ THIS BOOK ABOUT SAUSAGES NEARLY FROM COVER TO COVER.
May 16, 2016
Information, writing, and recipes.
July 2, 2016
Utterly delightful!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews