TribLive Taste Test: Bardine's candy corn bratwurst
Bardine’s Country Smokehouse owner Gary Bardine likes to be different, experimenting with different ingredients.
He’s certainly found a way to be different this fall — by offering candy corn bratwurst for a limited time at his Crabtree butcher shop.
“A few years back, when the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl, I read about a butcher out that way who actually put Skittles into his sausage because (Seattle’s) running back Marshawn Lynch liked them,” Bardine said. “I doubt it was very tasty, but it got them a lot of publicity.”
It’s one thing to introduce sour citrus candy to your sausage. But since candy corn is basically just sugar, Bardine approached it as though he was creating a sweet sausage.
“The candy corn just makes it a little bit sweeter,” he said. “It’s not a gimmick. It’s just me being me.”
Bardine said he prides himself on being inventive with his offerings, and running a small-batch operation offers more room for that type of experimentation.
“These are the types of things that set us apart from commercial products and bigger places like Giant Eagle,” he said. “And sometimes they catch on.”
As another fall option, Bardine’s has pumpkin bratwurst, which along with the candy corn is available for $4.99 per pound.
But how does it taste? We found out in this week’s TribLive Taste Test!
What would you like to see the TribLive Taste Test Squad try? Email pvarine@triblive.com and let us know.
For details, visit BardineMeats.com.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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