Sausage Sandwich with Cheese and Orange Marmalade

I saw in a television food program how a specialty restaurant in the US prepares some really interesting hotdog sandwiches which were a bit unusual but I found quite innovative and daring. In particular, their hotdog was butterflied, grilled flat and topped with slices of cheese then laid on an also butterflied hotdog bun spread with strawberry jam instead of the usual mayonnaise or tomato sauce-base dressings.

Another version was the use of peanut butter instead of the jam. The idea is to combine the sweet taste of the jam spread and the slightly salty-creamy taste of cheese and blend with the taste of the hotdog to make a distinctly good tasting hotdog sandwich.

Yesterday, I decided to make my own version of the exciting hotdog sandwich. Since I am not a big fan of strawberry jam, or any other strawberry laden or flavored food for that matter, I decided to use sweet orange marmalade instead. Likewise, in lieu of the good hotdog which is rather difficult to come by in my area of residence, I used a special edition sausage infused with cheese and onion that I recently chanced upon and bought in the supermarket.

As a backgrounder, hotdog, also called frankfurter or wiener, is a moist sausage of soft, even texture and flavor. Most types are fully cooked, cured or smoked, On the other hand, sausage is a food made from ground beef and pork. Common additions are ground pork fat called fatback, salt, herbs and spices. The basic sausage consists of meat, traditionally pork, beef or veal, cut into pieces or ground and filled into a casing. However, many sausages now are prepared basically like hotdog and packed with other flavoring ingredients. Chicken meat is now widely used as well like in my special chicken sausage with cheese and onion.

To prepare the sandwich, the following ingredients are needed; some clarified butter, jumbo chicken sausages, hot dog buns, slices of cheddar cheese and sweet orange marmalade. The quantity is dependent on the number of sandwiches you want to make. But for just 1 sandwich, I used 1 tsp butter, 2 jumbo sausages, 1 hotdog bun, about 3 to 4 tbsp orange marmalade and 2 slices of cheese.

To cook, over medium flame, heat a griddle. Alternatively, you can use your gas or electric grill, but allow me to present the process using my makeshift but very reliable griddle made from a thick heavy metal plate. Reminder: This involves a rather short period of cooking over a very hot metal plate so proper timing is very essential.

Cut the sausages and bun lengthwise and butterfly. When the griddle is already hot, add about a teaspoon of clarified butter. Start cooking the sausages on one side of the griddle cut side down first. When the cut side is cooked through, flip the sausages over to cook the other sides. At the same time, place the butterflied bun on the other side of the griddle, cut side down first as well.



Continue cooking but try to lower the heat when the griddle is becoming extremely hot. Flip the bun over and cook the other side. Place 2 slices of cheese on top of the sausages.

While everything is cooking on the griddle, spread some orange marmalade on the bun. Using a lid of a sauce pan, cover the sausage topped with cheese to properly melt the cheese by the action of steaming.



Just when the bun is slightly toasted below, transfer it on a serving plate. The cheese slices are thoroughly melted by this time so immediately lift the grilled cheese-topped sausage using spatula and lay on top of the bun with marmalade and the sandwich is ready to go. That’s it……easily done. :-)


Serve at once alongside your favorite drinks. It’s amazingly delicious. The different flavors and taste are complementing with one other creating a sweet-slightly salty and juicy-cheesy-tasty sandwich like you never tasted before. It’s surprisingly awesome. A must repeat. :-)

Next time, I will try re-doing it using peanut butter instead of marmalade and probably using other types of sausages or hotdogs. Who knows? I might create an even better one. For the meantime, let me fully enjoy this wonderful sausage sandwich with a twist. Don’t just drool there; start preparing this stunning meal at the comfort of your home. It’s worth it, I kid you not! c“,)