The Sausage Stylings of Bryan Bingham – Sunbird Barbecue

For Part Two (you can see PART ONE featuring Bill Dumas of Liberty Barbecue HERE) of my focus on those individuals throughout Texas and beyond that are dedicated to creating unique scratch-made sausage I feature the always creative, always generous Bryan Bingham from Sunbird Barbecue in Longview, Texas.

Bryan is one of THE most imaginative people in barbecue (check out his Instagram feed HERE to be blown away daily), but his inventive sausage making over the years really showcases a skillset that only few people have. To top it off, he's super nice and works like a demon. I honestly do not know when this guy sleeps.

I spoke to him about his path. "As far as my sausage making journey goes, when I first started making it I HATED it. It was hard I didn't enjoy it at all. I had to help a student my second year of culinary school make some and I hated it so much I vowed to never do it again."

"Once I started doing it the more, I started enjoying it because of how bad I was initially. I just wanted to master it. I really enjoy trying to take things you wouldn't expect to find in a sausage and make it translate to sausage and it still taste the same."

Regarding recipes, "I used to just eyeball the ratios, but when I started training people no one could ever make them taste the same way. It was after listening to to the Sausage 101 Episode from Tales from the Pits that I weighed everything out to make it come out the same every time."

"As we've transitioned to Sunbird Barbecue and changed briskets it's been like starting over trying to figure out the ratios. It's been frustrating, BUT another challenge to overcome to produce what people have come to expect from me."

"As far as any questions you have yes feel free to ask anything, use any picture you want nothing I ever post am I worried about people seeing thats why I've always left up all of my pictures bc I appreciate the realness of what I do so people can see the journey and how I've improved."

Here are over 20 of Bryan's sausage creations:

Verde Oaxaca Sausage

Shiner Smoked Cheddar Sausage

Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage

The Earlybird Pork & Beef Blend Sausage with Scrambled Eggs Hash Browns and Maple Syrup

Taco Sausage (made it more festive). Sharp cheddar and asadero cheese pico de gallo with tons of cilantro and lime juice.

Spaghetti and Meatball Sausage

Brisket Boudin

Pizza Sausage

Mostly Pork (Small Amount of Beef, I Can't Help Myself) Sausage. We've got green chile sauce, cebollitas, cilantro and Asadero cheese all hanging out together.