Origins of Breakfast Patties
Sausages are truly an international food — with variants found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. However, as many cultures eat sausages as a main course for lunch or dinner, breakfast sausages are a somewhat rarer food. And perhaps the rarest of all breakfast sausages are breakfast patties: the flat, casing-less, heavily-seasoned sausages that resemble small hamburger patties.
That is to say, breakfast patties are rare in a relative sense. According to a 2016 poll, 89 percent of Americans enjoy sausage — with a whopping 20 percent saying they enjoy breakfast patties as their favorite type.
That’s right. Not breakfast sausage links, not bratwurst or kielbasa, but breakfast patties. Sausage patties were also found to be regionally popular — a number-one favorite among an amazing 26 percent of American Southerners.
But maybe that’s putting the cart before the horse. Breakfast patties likely originated in rural America, likely in the West or the South. They were ground meat, typically pork, seasoned with sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and other spices. Unlike English breakfast sausages, American patties do not typically contain cereal fillers, rather, they are more likely to have nonfat dry milk powder, sugar, white pepper, or black pepper as secondary ingredients.
Popularity of Sausage patties
So what makes the breakfast patty so popular in the United States? Well, for one thing, they are everywhere. They are sold as ingredients in fast-food breakfast sandwiches and as ready-to-prepare breakfast meats. They are a staple of diners and frozen food aisles. They even are present in establishments that are arguably more famous for doughnuts or coffee.
Finally, breakfast patties became a regional breakfast favorite in the American South, especially when paired with biscuits, gravy, eggs, potatoes, and grits. As these other foods migrated from farm meals and church breakfasts to become fast-food staples, the breakfast patty followed suit. It soon had a ubiquitous presence in American culture.
Rise of the Plant-Based Versions
Things in the world of breakfast patties are definitely changing. Going from a fully red meat version of this rather American breakfast staple to a vegan one is an indicator of its popularity not only amongst meat eaters but vegans too. As the popularity of this food item grows, more manufacturers are offering plant-based breakfast patties not only in the frozen food sections of the grocery stores but shops like Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King, hotel restaurants, and others. This demand for a variety of options in breakfast items certainly stimulates the manufacturers of plant-based patties to further compete in the delivery of the best tasting pseudo sausage meatless breakfast patty. Today we have ample choices when it comes to vegan versions. Brands like 365 by Whole Foods, Hillary’s, Pure Farmland, Gardein, just to name a few from an ever-growing list of plant-based patties brands.