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Halo!

We are in the midst of our honeymoon, and are traveling from Amsterdam to Brugges to Paris. Upon our first breakfast in Amsterdam we were presented with small (about 1.5 to 2 inches in length, about .75 inches in diameter) sausages. They were a regular breakfast item in Amsterdam, and then again in Brugges.

They are very light in both color and flavor. If I had to guess, they contain a mixture of chicken meat and pork fat. The contents are definitely emulsified. They are in natural casings, or at least they certainly were in Amsterdam. As I said, they are served with breakfast. In Amsterdam the sausages were very dense so the casi g would brown and pop open, whereas in Brugges the casing was much less full, which provided a pillowy, soft texture.

Does anyone know what these sausages are called? I'd love to make them for myself when I get back to the US.

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I am going to guess that you are likely getting british or irish breakfast sausage. The national dutch sausage, Frikandel, is minced, skinless, and not usually eaten at breakfast. There is a perception amongst the dutch that Americans eat nothing but meat and fat in huge portions.

I did a semester abroad in the Netherlands. For the first few days, the host family fed me eggs and sausages for breakfast. I usually have some toast or cereal for breakfast. So, after a couple days I asked them if this is what they had for breakfast every day. My host mother said, "No, this is what we were told Americans have for breakfast everyday!"

After a chat, they said they were buying British breakfast sausages and eggs for me. Their typical breakfast was a slice of bread, some cheese, and a very strongly flavored liverwurst. My tastes were not as developed back then. After two days of that I asked if there was any other breakfast choices. My host mother bought me suikerbrood. It is a loaf of bread with sugar baked in it. It was delicious! I told them that I enjoyed this new breakfast very much. This caused a lot of chortling for my two host siblings. It turns out that suikerbrood is a small children's breakfast.

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  • Excellent, thank you! I do have to admit that the liverwurst I had in both Holland and the Flemish portion of Belgium was probably the best I've had in my entire life - it was simply incredible. Also, does the suikerbrodje have a texture that makes it seem like it "melts in your mouth"? Like upon taking a bite, the initial texture of bread is felt, but where your teeth compress it it seems to melt in your mouth? I ask because we had a bread like that, and couldn't get over the strange but wonderful mouthfeel. It was served, you guessed it, at breakfast!
    – Matthew
    Dec 13, 2013 at 14:01
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    It is a very soft bread that contains lots of butter. It is dotted with sugar cubes (or sometimes sugar nibs). I still make it at home as it is one of my fondest food memories.
    – BigHandsome
    Dec 13, 2013 at 18:11
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    I would just like to point out that the Frikadel (or Frikandel, though that used to be a spelling error :)) is not considered a sausage in the Netherlands (or at least by me). Usually it's eaten with French fries or as a quick snack, and you usually only find them in snackbars or frozen in supermarkets. They go nice with beers etc since they're fried. If you really want to taste a good Dutch sausage try a "rookworst". Most people agree that the ones from a HEMA (they're everywhere) are best, but you can also get brand ones (I recommend "unox") from most supermarkets.
    – Bono
    May 18, 2015 at 15:10
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There are no regular breakfast items in the Netherlands that are sausages of any kind - we don't eat those for breakfast. My guess is you were staying in places that wanted to cater to British/American breakfast guests, so they added sausages.

Also, 1.5-2 inch sausages are uncommon in the Netherlands. They could have been mini versions of 'knakworst', often presented as a snack to go with drinks or at a childrens party - those resemble your description.

Knakworst: enter image description here

Mini-versions, sold under fantasy names like 'mini-knakworst' or 'borrelworst': enter image description here

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