Holmes Smokehouse Pecan smoked sausage

Here is a treat!
Pecan-smoked sausages are hard to find, so it was a big surprise to see a Texas-made, pecan-smoked sausage in a Fort Lauderdale, Fl. Publix Super Market.

This is a Holmes Smokehouse sausage.  Founded in 1970 by Luvine Holmes, this little sausage company is based in Rosenberg, Texas.  That's on the old U.S. 90 Highway that got bypassed by Interstate 10.  Rosenberg is a small town, but it's not far  from Houston, and a lot of hard work by the family eventually made Holmes products (they make a wide range of meat products) a hit in the big Bayou City.

Holmes Smokehouse distributes its products in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, so it really was a surprise to find Publix carrying it.  I had not seen it there before, and Florida is apparently a test market for Holmes.  We'll see if it gains any traction, but I'll make sure to ask for it again at my local Publix if it disappears from the shelf.

Holmes Smokehouse Pecan Smoked Sausage from Rosenberg

This sausage is good for any meal time -- breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Right after I opened the package, I cut a three-inch section and put it on medium heat to grill while I chopped green onion, orange bell pepper and white mushrooms.

I added a little butter to one side of the skillet and lightly grilled the vegetables for less than two minutes.  I don't like to cook vegetables too long. I want them al dente (firm but not fresh out of the produce section crunchy).

I then stirred in an egg for a scrambled vegetable omelet.

I got a slice of New York style rye and grilled that on both sides, then I cut the bread in three sections, (think finger food).

Something I noticed about this Holmes sausage is it could take the heat for a long time. I had sliced it across the center, to it cooked from the skin side and the center.  It is common for the interior meat to burn on a skillet surface, so I am used to keeping a close eye on that side.  That did not happen with this sausage and I left it there quite a while.

That was a pleasant surprise.  I'm assuming it tolerated the heat better because it had a higher fat content?  But it did not run grease on the skillet surface the way I usually see grease run, and it does not have the kind of fat marbling that I've seen in other sausages, so I really don't have a good answer.

A single service is described as 2 ounces on the packaging. That is 16 grams, or 25 percent of content.  This is not a pure pork sausage.  The protein content is described as pork, beef and concentrated soy.

Pecan smoked sausage with omelette

Buen provecho!