I make tastier sausages by getting rid of oil and cooking them with a better kitchen ingredient. Sausages can often end up with a horrible charred flavour, but I have discovered an easy way to make them tastier and juicier using an everyday ingredient most people have in their kitchen cupboard.
Sausages are the ultimate comfort food, whether you're rustling up a hearty breakfast butty or serving them alongside creamy mashed potatoes for your evening meal. However, I used to refuse to cook sausages because I couldn't stand frying them; the oil would pop and splatter in the pan, coating every nearby kitchen surface in grease.
Not only did I grow weary of tackling the oily mess, but I frequently found that frying left the sausages charred, dried out and unpleasantly greasy. After browsing a few recipes, I discovered that sausages often lose their flavour when cooked at high temperatures, as this causes the meat to shed its tasty juices.
Fortunately, there's a straightforward way to keep sausages succulent on the inside and crispy on the outside, and it begins with ditching the oil in favour of a chicken stock cube.
What is the best way to cook sausages?
It might sound peculiar, but many people opt to poach sausages before properly cooking them. This simply involves gently simmering them in water with a chicken stock cube for a few minutes before browning them in the oven, in a pan, or on the barbecue.
Sausages are quite substantial, and when fried in oil over high heat, the outside often cooks much faster than the inside, which can cause the skin to split and allow the juices and fat to escape. Consequently, sausages can end up dry, unevenly cooked, and often burnt on the outside while still raw in the middle.
Poaching, however, helps keep sausages moist by allowing the insides to reach a safe temperature, ensuring they cook more uniformly. This enables the sausages to cook more gradually and retain all the juices, so they turn out far more flavourful than they typically are.
I initially discovered this method on a butcher's website last year, and after testing it myself, I can confirm it makes sausages considerably tastier and is now the sole way I prepare them. While poaching might seem like extra work, it typically takes under 10 minutes, and I have found it is genuinely far less demanding than frying them.
How to poach sausages
You will need:
- A pack of sausages
- A little water
- One chicken stock cube
It is perfectly acceptable to poach sausages in plain water if you prefer, but incorporating a stock cube introduces more herbs and seasoning, making them taste significantly better. The sausages will emerge richer with a much more intense flavour simply by using an ingredient you probably already have in your kitchen cupboard. I occasionally also like to include a dash of beer and fresh herbs in the water, but it depends on what I have available.
Method
- To start, preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Next, place the sausages in a pan and add sufficient water to cover them halfway, along with a chicken stock cube.
- Put the pan over a medium heat and gradually bring the water to a gentle simmer. Be cautious not to let it boil vigorously, as this can cause the sausages to burst.
- Once the water is simmering, lower the heat slightly and gently cook the sausages for approximately 8 minutes, until they are firm and cooked through. They won't appear appetising and golden at this stage, but remain patient, as the end result will look mouth-watering.
- Once the sausages are prepared, transfer them to the oven and cook for 12 to 20 minutes, until nicely browned.
