Perfect Snags

Project 2012: Day 8

Ever noticed that when you BBQ (also braai, grill, or fry) sausages, they often burst. Now if these are pork sausages fried for breakfast in the UK, bursting adds to their quaint charm.

However, if these are any type of sausages on a BBQ, bursting leads to them drying out. Not to mention causing fat fires, that in turn burn the meat

Note: Blokes it is not actually considered a delicacy if people can write with your sausages.

Can you prevent them from bursting?

It turns out that butchers use slight alkali solution (like a baking soda) to make the skins stretchy when they’re filling the sausages. Over time, and in the fridge, this alkali hardens the skins. On the BBQ when the liquid and filling of the snag is expanding in the heat, the skins split.

The easiest way to avoid this is to give them a soak in a slightly acidic solution before whacking them on the fire. And the best slightly acidic solution known to man is: Beer.

So grab a tinny or stubby, pop your snags in a dish, and cover them entirely with the beer. Pretty much any lager will do. Although the fuller the strength (i.e. more sugar in the content) will add to improving the flavour through caramelisation. 10 mins of soaking in beer is enough, I generally aim for about 20.

The other technique you want to keep in mind is the cooking heat.

Start with high heat to begin the caramelisation process (browning), but as soon as the sausages are brown, turn the heat on one burner off, and the other to low (on gas) and move the sausages away from the direct heat (gas & charcoal). Then close the lid.

You want to avoid the juices boiling quickly, creating pressure inside the skin and causing it to burst.

Never, ever, prick a sausage on the BBQ. (Ok in the frying pan)

Perfect, unburst sausages. Nom.

Postscript

Of course, like Kean’s comment in last weeks post about perfect steak, you can always get someone else to cook your snags for you….  

My experience is that most blokes create charcoal crayons with snags on the BBQ – you’re welcome to visit here.

What are the best sausages, or sausage recipes you enjoy?

Tagged as: BBQ, sausages, snags