Sausages can be baked, barbecued, fried, grilled or poached.

Whatever method you use they should be cooked right through, but still juicy. Cook them slowly to ensure that the skins do not burst. This is vital because the skin helps to retain moisture, once it bursts it cannot do this. A burst skin is either a sign of a bad sausage or a good sausage ruined by fast cooking.

It can be difficult to turn sausages without piercing the skins. A pair of spring loaded kitchen tongs will make it easy to turn and reduce the risk of piercing them.

Frying

Try to use a heavy, cast iron frying pan. If you have one use a ridged pan for the char grilled taste.

Our 'quick' method is to fry them on a low heat for around 20 minutes, turning them 3 or 4 times. The longer method can take more than twice as long or even an hour. You will not need to stand over the frying pan and the results will justify the wait. Just turn the heat to the lowest setting and leave the sausages to cook very, very slowly. Wait at least 10 minutes before each turn. That way each side will be brown and sticky and all the juices will stay inside the sausage.

As they fry, sausages will curve away from the frying pan. To cook the opposite side just turn it over, initially only the ends will touch the pan but the middle will sink and the sausage straighten as it cooks.

Baking

To bake, put the sausages in a roasting tin and place them in a medium oven (gas mark 4 or 180 degrees) for 35 to 45 minutes. Baking can dry the sausages so baste them in the juices 2 or 3 times during cooking. You can also marinade sausages prior to baking or pour a little honey, mustard, soy sauce or tomato ketchup over the sausages as they bake.

Grilling

This is the most popular method

It should take 10 - 15 minutes to grill sausages on a medium setting. If you prick them before grilling, the fat content will be low (however as stated above this will impair the taste and succulence).

Poaching

To poach sausages you put them in barely simmering water for 30 - 40 minutes. Be careful that you do not cook them too fast, otherwise the skins may burst. Once the sausage is cooked, it will keep warm in the poaching liquid for at least 30 minutes.

A poached sausage may not look too appetising. To add colour and a few crispy bits simply fry or grill the sausages for 5 minutes.

Barbecuing

Sausages do not cook well on the fierce heat of a barbecue (High). A fierce heat causes  sausages to be blackened on the outside and raw inside. A fierce heat will cause the edible casing to split and the sausage will not be able to maintain succulence. The sausage casing holds the moisture in if it bursts then that will evaporate under the high heat and your sausage will be dry and tough.

To make foolproof barbecue sausages first poach them for 30 minutes and then barbecue on residual (Low) heat for 5 - 10 minutes. The sausages will be already cooked. All the barbecue is doing is heating the sausages, adding color and a smoky barbecue taste.

If you do not want to poach prior, set your BBQ to a low heat and turn them a few times (4 or 5 )makes sure that your low setting doesn't blacken the skins, gas pressures vary but on a 2.75 KPA gas regulator (Most Common) set you heat setting to low, make sure that you get a even brown texture across the sausage surface (Do not put sausages on a cold BBQ) bring the BBQ plate to a low temperature first then place them on the plate or grill. The sausages at room temperature will take 15-20 minutes to cook through. (Do not place a frozen sausage on the BBQ) thaw them out first at room temperature for a few hours or so until they are soft. On most occasions the longer you cook a sausage for on lower heat the more succulent its likely to be.