Sausages: How Not to Ruin Them

Never prick them

The single most repeated piece of sausage advice is wrong. The casing holds the fat and juices in while the meat cooks, then crisps. Pricking releases exactly what you are trying to keep, dries the sausage and causes the flare-ups you were trying to avoid. The advice to prick came from an era of poorly filled, fatty sausages; a good sausage does not need it.

Cook them gently

A fierce fire splits the skin and burns the outside before the middle is done. Cook sausages gently over indirect heat first, until they are cooked through, then colour them over the coals for a few minutes at the end. Low and slow, then a quick blast, is the whole trick.

Match the cook to the sausage

• Coarse, high-meat sausages like boerewors want treating as minced meat in a skin: gentle and patient.
• Fine emulsified sausages like frankfurters cook faster and can take a little more direct heat.
• Fresh raw sausages, like cooking chorizo, release flavourful oil and want to crisp; let some fat drip.

Know when they are done

A sausage is done when it is cooked through, which a thermometer confirms at around 70 to 75°C, not when the outside looks black. If the skin is charring before the middle is done, the fire is too hot; move them to the cool side and be patient.