"jimmy dean" news and stories

It's a sad time for pork lovers. Jimmy Dean, the country music singer-turned-sausage entrepreneur died yesterday.

The 81-year-old was best known musically for his hit, "Big Bad John," but for millions of Americans he was equally revered for his contribution to the breakfast table.

His wife, Donna Meade Dean, said her husband died at their Henrico County, Va., home on Sunday. Although he had health problems, she said his death -- he was found unresponsive in front of the television -- came as a surprise.

Dean was a workingman's hero. Born in 1928, he grew up in Plainview, Texas, during the Great Depression and dropped out of school before the 10th grade. After enlisting in the Air Force in 1946, he began playing his accordion at a bar near Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., eventually landed a gig as the host of a local television jamboree. By the early 1950s, Dean's band had its first national hit in "Bummin' Around." From there, he hopscotched his way to the pinnacle of country music fame, with "Big Bad John" hitting number one on both the Billboard Pop and Billboard Country Charts in 1961.

The breakfast sandwich market gets a little more crowded with Dunkin Donuts' newest creation: The Waffle Breakfast Sandwich. Yes. I know. Calm down. The sandwich consists of egg, cheese and bacon between two maple syrup-flavored waffles.

The composition evokes memories of Junior's Restaurant's brisket-on-latke sandwich, but the DD sandwich's taste overkill is more reminiscent of the famous Jimmy Dean sausage-in-a-pancake-on-a-stick. And, like the sausage-in-a-pancake-on-a-stick, the bacon-egg-cheese-maple-waffle sandwich possesses a dubious deliciousness.

The mix of artery-clogging morning cholesterol with the sweetness of maple syrup is almost too much to bear, yet somehow you cannot resist devouring the last sticky crumb. Devouring, wishing that the waffle was truly waffle-sized and not English muffin-sized. And hating yourself for wishing that. And swearing to go straight to the gym as soon as you are done. And craving another one.

I'm really bad when it comes to eating breakfast. I know, I know, it's "the most important meal of the day" and it gives you a good start and all those other slogans, but I find myself grabbing just a cup of tea in the morning and that's it. No oatmeal, no juice, no fruit, nothing. This is probably something I should fix.

Maybe I should move to San Diego. According to this survey conducted by Jimmy Dean, more people in San Diego eat breakfast than any other city in America. The whole list is here so I won't give away the rest of the top ten, but I will say that Detroit is #5, Pittsburgh is #14, and Atlanta is #22.

By the way, I haven't mentioned it yet, but February is National Hot Breakfast Month.

We already know that not all prepackaged food combinations are a good idea (like the hot dogs with microwaveable buns), but manufacturers cannot resist trying to come up with new ones anyway. Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick is a frozen breakfast food, an all-in-one breakfast that is ready after just two minutes in the microwave. As good as chocolate chip pancakes are, the idea of a frozen chocolate chip pancake wrapped around a sausage just doesn't sound all that tempting. Possibly even less tempting is the blueberry pancake variety that is listed on the Jimmy Dean site.

This is one food that sounds as if it would have a better reception at a state fair, with other foods on sticks, where it can be with its own kind.

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