The Wurst of Lucky Peach

Starred review from March 7, 2016
The follow-up to last year’s terrific Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes is just as satisfying, entertaining, and focused. This time, the editors of the quirky and brilliant food journal focus on sausage in all its incarnations, as correspondents travel the globe and weigh in on their findings regarding regional weiners (without making too many jokes about genitalia). Readers who scoff at the concept will be stunned to discover the diversity on display here, as the team’s global reportage is truly impressive, relaying the good, bad, and ugly sides of sausage. They taste every style under the sun, from the expected N.Y.C. “dirty water dogs” and iconic Chicago-style dogs (even corndogs get an entry) to oddities such as opka hesip, a Chinese sausage composed of lamb offal and rice stuffed into a sheep’s lung. There are symphonic odes to the glories of mustard as well as damning essays on DIY ketchup (“It always, always tastes worse than the bottled stuff”) and German weiswurst (which “looks exactly like white cat poop”). Most featured recipes cover basic assembly, so those inspired to whip up their own Mexican chorizo, mortadella, boudi, or merguez will find guidance here. Refreshingly enthusiastic about their subject material (and damning when the situation calls for it), the team has done a great favor for the world’s carnivores.