There are several key home maintenance tasks you can complete to ensure your home stays comfortable and energy efficient over summer, and to safeguard against unforseen events.
Food & Wine
How to cook perfect barbecue sausages: temperature and techniques
Barbecuing is a serious business in Australia, with cooking the best sausages going hand in hand with staying safe when using a BBQ. Here are some expert tips on cooking the perfect snag.
The barbecue is synonymous with Australian culture, and cooking snags on the barbie is a surefire crowd-pleaser. But rather than being a boring staple, you can turn sausages into the centrepiece of your dining table by paying a little attention to detail.
RACV Club Executive Sous Chef Craig Dowling says preparation and care when cooking will ensure you achieve a great outcome.
“The best barbecued sausage is one that’s crisp and golden on the outside but still moist and juicy inside – cooked all the way through, of course, and packed with flavour,” he says.
“But that’s not so easy to achieve. Investing in the best quality sausages you can afford is a great place to start, but let’s show you how to cook them perfectly.”
Follow this guide, with helpful hints from Dowling, and take your barbecue to the next level.
More: How to design the ultimate outdoor kitchen and BBQ area
First, ensure the BBQ is safe to use
It’s important to prioritise safety whenever you’re firing up the barbie, no matter how much experience with cooking sausages you’ve got tucked under your belt.
If you notice any signs of wear or damage, such as leaks or cracks in gas hoses and other fittings, you should not use the barbecue. The relevant parts must be promptly replaced. If it’s an issue with a more sophisticated outdoor kitchen, like where the gas is plumbed in, speak to a licensed and qualified tradie, such as a gas specialist with RACV Trades.
More: Grill with confidence: a barbecue safety guide
Next, clean the BBQ thoroughly before cooking
Cleaning the barbie will not only help produce a bonzer result when cooking snags, it’s a crucial element in routine care and maintenance of barbecue equipment.
Contrary to popular opinion, food debris and grease from the last cook will not add desirable flavour. Use a wire brush or grill scraper to remove any stubborn residue – and, if you’ve got one, always empty the container on the BBQ that’s designed to collect (flammable) cooking fat.
Now, how to cook the best BBQ sausages
1. Choose good quality sausages
In general terms, the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ applies to sausages, so buy the best quality snags you can afford. These shouldn’t turn out too greasy or dry when cooked but have a great mouthfeel – that is, a feeling that it’s just right in terms of texture, juiciness, and so on.
They don’t have to be big, thick bangers. Remember that kids especially love thin sausages. Large ones are a meal in themselves, so it depends on what else you’re serving.
Beef sausages are a traditional favourite, but there’s no need to stop there. Experiment with different meats and flavour profiles brought with the likes of bratwurst, andouille and kielbasa.
Vegetarian and vegan options are fast improving, but plant-based barbie tubes vary in quality. You can still get creative grilling marinated zucchinis, eggplant, capsicum and asparagus.
2. Prepare the sausages before barbecuing
It’s a good idea to let the sausages come up to room temperate before they hit the BBQ, so allow 20 minutes or so before cooking. This will help heat get into the snags more quickly when they land on the grill, cooking more evenly.
A few pricks in the sausage are recommended if there’s a high fat content, helping avoid a big and loud burst on the barbie (hence the name banger). Quality sausages generally have plenty of fat, but cheaper sausages are prone to becoming dry and shrivelled if they lose too much moisture so you can skip the prick points there.
3. Cook the sausages on the BBQ to perfection
A golden rule with barbecued snags is cooking them over a medium heat. On high, you run the risk of burnt and crispy on the outside and undercooked inside.
Don’t cook too many at a time so that the plate or bar grill is crowded. The heat will drop and you run the risk of boiling rather than grilling them! You need enough space to rotate the snags around, say 60 per cent of the surface area, so create a little production line with a few at a time.
For maximum juiciness, consistent cooking throughout and a great appearance, keep turning the sausages while cooking. Using the bar grill adds a bit of extra drama to the appearance with the bar marks, but a BBQ plate is just fine.
If you have a digital thermometer, the sausages will be cooked when they’re between 75 and 80 degrees Celsius. For everyone else, have a sausage reserved as a tester. After about 10 minutes (or longer, if they’re thick snags), cut a piece off the end and take a look: if it’s still pink and appearing raw, leave it on for a few more minutes; if the meat looks solid and clear juice is running out, then all that’s left is the obligatory taste test.
Take your time, too. The BBQ is a place where you can relax, enjoy cooking and talk with friends and family.
The end result will be better if you only cook a few sausages at a time. Image: Getty
4. Other BBQ sausage issues – onions, bread, condiments
Here are some other tips with the accompaniments often found with barbecued sausages:
Onions – slice nice and thick and cook low and slow in some olive oil, with salt and pepper.
Bread – a snag in white bread is the classic combo, but try a crispy baguette or a light and fluffy banh mi roll; wholemeal bread is fine, chewy sourdough a no-go.
Sauce – condiments are perfect for snags and it’s hard to go past regular tomato sauce with your choice of mustard, but you can always mix and match with alternatives: tomato relish, nana’s homemade plum sauce, sauerkraut, kimchi, mayonnaise…
RACV Trades is a trading name of RACV's trade partner, Club Home Response Pty Ltd (Victorian registered domestic building practitioner number CDB-U 100178). All works are performed or arranged by Club Home Response Pty Ltd. trading as RACV Trades.
