Frozen Sausage on a Stick Actually Tasty

Jimmy D's Griddle Sticks

I Paid: $4.75 for six pancake-wrapped turkey sausages (prices may vary by region)

Taste: 4 stars

Marketing: 1 stars

If you turned a Las Vegas oddsmaker loose on the problem of predicting what frozen foods taste like based on their packaging, he'd go nuts and quit in frustration after three days of trying. Beautiful-looking premium foods often taste wildly unbalanced and terrible, and chintzy-looking items often turn out to be (at least for the money) downright terrific.

Case in point: Jimmy D's Griddle Sticks. These are frozen turkey sausages jammed onto wooden sticks and covered in a pancakelike material. My first reaction upon seeing these things in the freezer aisle was to exclaim, "Kill it with fire!" followed immediately by, "Oh, well, I guess I'd better try 'em."

A minute in the microwave is all it takes to bring these turkey treats from "meat Popsicle" to "hot breakfast," and then, lo and behold ... they're remarkably decent. The pancake's not too sweet or sticky, and the turkey sausage is nicely spiced—it's a bit too resilient, but it's not unpleasantly tough. (Also note, if you choose to heat these in the oven, there's a trade-off: You get some nice external browning, but the pancake gets too chewy.)

For a mere 160 calories and less than a dollar a serving, Griddle Sticks are a nice, satisfying hot breakfast that is highly portable. They also happen to taste pretty good with coffee.

James Norton edits the Upper Midwestern food journal Heavy Table. He's also the coauthor of a book on Wisconsin's master cheesemakers. For his Supertaster Daily videos, he samples offerings from supermarket aisles and fast-food menus. (Click here to see all of James's previous Supertaster work.) You can follow him on Twitter and fan him on Facebook.