Make this Memorial Day memorable by grilling fresh sausages made by a butcher shop. And remember: Don't poke 'em with a fork.
By JANET K. KEELER
Published May 26, 2004
[Times photo: Bob Croslin]
Roasted red pepper relish complements grilled Italian sausage, bratwurts or kielbasa.
Sausages are really just hot dogs for grownups.
Seems like when the kids won't eat anything else, they'll eat hot dogs, plain or with ketchup only, please. Adults have learned to dress up hot dogs with everything from chili to celery salt and cucumbers, especially if they are from Cincinnati or Chicago.
With Memorial Day cookouts on the horizon, we're suggesting that you ditch the usual dogs (and burgers) and explore the wider world of sausages. Sausages are easy to cook, especially on the grill, plus they taste great and come in plenty of varieties and nationalities, from spicy chorizo to mild knockwurst. And what a nice change of pace for your guests on low-carb diets.
You can plop kielbasa in buns and pile them high with condiments, or cook bratwurst in beer and sauerkraut, or saute spicy Italian sausage with lots of onions and peppers. How good is that? Fuggedaboutit!
Nearly all cuisines include sausages, from the well-known wursts of Germany to the sweet and hot offerings of Italy. The Chinese have sweet-salty lop cheong that are smaller and thinner than Western sausages. In Lebanon, spicy lamb sausage is called mekanek. And then there are British bangers and Cajun andouille, Portugese linguica and Greek loukaniko.
Sausages are the product of frugal farming. Scraps and trimmings from slaughtered animals were efficiently mixed with seasonings, then stuffed into casings, usually made of intestines, and smoked, cooked or cured by salt or air.
When small towns developed butchers, each region developed favorite recipes, calling for various mixes of meats spiced with garlic, paprika, thyme, fennel and coriander, This is why kielbasa, for instance, varies widely across eastern Europe.
Sausages that are cooked when purchased, such as hot dogs, need only to be heated through before serving. They can be warmed in simmering water, beer or even apple juice. If you've got the grill going, toss them on for a few minutes, turning occasionally so you get those desirable stripes.
Fresh, or raw, sausages must be cooked thoroughly, and the grill is a good place for that if the cook is attentive. It's not a good idea to walk away from a grill loaded with sausages, or the results might be a charred mess.
Fresh sausages can be purchased at grocery stores, but many butcher shops in the Tampa Bay area make their own.
Surf and Turf Market in Palm Harbor (3235 Tampa Road; 727-785-8873) makes fresh andouille, kielbasa, Italian sausage (sweet and hot), knockwurst, bratwurst, chorizo and turkey sausages. (Call ahead to make sure it has what you want, or place an order.) Manager James Trainor says the most important rule of grilling sausages is to not use a fork to turn the meat on the grill.
"Don't poke them or you'll let the juices run out," he says. "Use tongs."
Trainor says it takes about 15 minutes for most sausages to be fully cooked on a grill.
Many grilling experts say sausages shouldn't be grilled without some advance cooking. It's risky, they say, because sausages can swell and split before they are done, causing flames to shoot up and scorch the casings.
"Get a good-sized pot of water, bring it to a boil, add the (raw) sausages, and when it comes back to a boil, shut off the heat and let them sit for 10 minutes," Bruce Aidells, founder of Aidells Sausage Co., told the Sacramento Bee. "It's not a good idea to boil sausages. That leaches out the flavor. Most people don't have a handle on how to grill sausages. They usually put them on too much heat, burning the outside while leaving the inside raw."
Trainor, however, would rather grill his sausages on low heat, turning them regularly to avoid burning.
"I think when you boil them, the flavor goes into the pot," he says.
Mike Shaner of Shaner's Land & Sea Market in St. Pete Beach (2000 Pass-A-Grille Way; 727-367-4292) agrees. "Parboiling cooks out the fat and flavor," he says. "A good sausage has 20 percent fat, so you don't want to lose that. Keep turning them on the grill and you won't have any problem."
Shaner's makes many standard fresh sausages but adds some individuality to the mix. A popular pork sausage has parsley and chunks of provolone. And Shaner recommends that his salmon sausage be grilled frozen. Chunks of salmon are mixed with ground pork and hot spices similar to chorizo, he says.
"Take them out of the freezer and put them on the grill," Shaner says. The heat sears the sausages, and by the time they are defrosted, they are cooked perfectly.
If you're not familiar with sausage varieties, here are some to look for, keeping in mind that ingredients will vary from butcher to butcher.
* Kielbasa or Polish sausage. You'll find mild kielbasa fresh or smoked. It's a combination of beef and pork, and is usually seasoned with garlic and thyme or marjoram.
* Italian sausage. Most often fresh, Italian sausage is either sweet (mild) or hot. Sweet Italian sausage is flavored with sugar, garlic, anise and fennel. Hot includes paprika, chili peppers, onion, garlic, fennel and parsley.
* German sausages. Bratwurst, knockwurst and frankfurters are the most popular. Bratwurst is found fresh and cooked. It is a mixture of pork or beef and veal, flavored by onion, garlic, coriander, caraway and nutmeg. Knockwurst is plump, light-colored sausage made of pork and beef, plus cumin and lots of garlic. German-style frankfurters are usually more plump than the Ball Parks we're used to stateside.
* Spicy sausages. Andouille is the Cajun sausage used in dishes such as jambalaya. The punch of this pork sausage comes from cayenne pepper. Chorizo is a Spanish sausage popular in Mexico. It also is made of ground pork and is spiced liberally with hot ground red chilis. Linguica is a Portuguese sausage similar in heat to chorizo but with the addition of sweet spices such as cinnamon, gloves and allspice.
For a party, figure on two sausages per person. Buy a variety and offer the appropriate condiments. And don't forget the plain weiners your kids love.
Polish and Italian go great with onions and peppers. A variety of mustards, from sweet to hot, are tasty accompaniments for German sausages. Don't forget the sauerkraut.
If you're serving sausages on rolls, stay away from those airy white hot dog buns. Look for something sturdy that can hold the sausage and considerable condiments.
We aren't talking kid stuff here.
- Janet K. Keeler can be reached at 727 893-8586 or by e-mail at krieta@sptimes.com
