Each week, my Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over a decade ago.
A smoked beef and pork sausage link smothered in BBQ sauce and served on a pretzel roll sounds tantalizing, doesn’t it? But on airplane?
Earlier this week, I wrote about how airlines at least attempt to make airline palatable from 30,000 feet. United tried five different sausage recipes and 36 different pretzel buns before finally selecting the combo that now appears in the economy class buy-on-board menu.
During a recent flight in economy class, I had the chance to try it out.
Lillie’s Q® sausage sandwich
Lillie’s Q® southern-style smoked beef and pork sausage and Lillie’s Q® South Carolina-style Gold BBQ sauce with roasted onions on a Labriola pretzel bun
It was served in a paper bag. My primary concern was whether the bun would be soggy. It is difficult enough to make bread crispy on airplane, but throw in BBQ sauce and it becomes very difficult to pull off. But somehow, someway, the bun was crisp and not at all soggy. The sausage was very tasty, though I would have liked it much spicier. I feared the onions might overwhelm the other flavors, but they did not.
My only complaint was the sandwich was tiny. This was a snack, not a meal.
CONCLUSION
Although I recommend it, I do think your $1o is better spent on a brioche cheeseburger than on this. But this was a great sandwich and afternoon nice snack. If you like BBQ sausage, give it a try.
> Read More: How Airlines Make In-Flight Food Tasty
Yeah, $10 is a bit much.
Maybe some people don’t eat pork. How about that as a primary concern.
Well then they would order something else, since it’s clearly stated in the description.
Oh dear….. What would a VEGAN do?
If you hands are the size of Trumps, the sandwich is actually massive.
Although it certainly doesn’t look as good as the picture, I’m sure it’s a great snack and a welcome addition to UAs economy class food for purchase (I myself do often fly economy due to budget constraints).
So you’re saying a hot dog is a sandwich?
It’s not a hot dog. Definitely a higher quality of meat.
Yuck. The $1.50 hot dog at Costco looks waaaay better, and you get a drink!
So it’s really a fancy hot dog. I like hot dogs and all, but $10? That’s beyond even the extortion prices charged at sports stadiums…
I guess it could have been worse… food is always hit or miss.. Thanks for your honest review…
It doesn’t look as appetizing as it sounds, but I would give it a try based on what you’ve said
Looks like a good option when the F menu sucks.
That slop cost $10? Lol.
It’s a hot dog plain and simple. They should at least offer mustard with it, there’s never enough bbq sauce and too much bun.
I agree with Matthew; it’s actually very tasty. And a hot dog? No. My kids wouldn’t have eaten it. Sure, I would have liked it spicier, too, but it was way spicier than my kids (my daughter, in particular) would have wanted. I think it’s the tastiest buy-on-board “meal” I’ve had on United. I would definitely get it again.
That said, my sausage didn’t look nearly as unappealing as the one in this post. And, as a 1K, I didn’t have to pay for it. No doubt that those things definitely colored my view of it; I might have been irked if I’d paid that much for it. My main complaint was that the sausage was too small for the bun … which is a pretty common thing when sausages get served in buns.
Eating that crap ( note the ingredients) the least of your concerns should be the prospect of a soggy bun.
I’m actually excited about this, finally something meaty without cheese.
Really wished paid airline food was customizable, or served with all condiments and toppings on the side. It’s really easy to put a topping or condiment on food, but nearly impossible to remove once on it.
Agree. Many times I have to skip the meal service due to cheese being on all the choices.
I had it too, it was good but quite small. I had the burger on the next 2 flights.
The sausage makes the cabin smelly.