What happens when you prick a sausage?
Whether it's merguez or chipolata sausages, sausages contain water and fat. As you can imagine, if you pierce them, this juice will escape and drip straight onto your embers. The result? Dry and burnt sausages because the juice and fat can no longer nourish the meat. What a shame, you'd already spread mustard on your bread...
Moreover, beyond the disappointing taste, the fat that escapes from the sausages can be dangerous for several reasons when it falls on the embers. First of all, you risk getting splashed, and at such a temperature, it can cause a burn. To avoid this, be sure to adopt safe practices for barbecuing. Secondly, this fat could ignite the fire and cause flames. These flames will not only burn your meat, but will also project soot residue onto it. These polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the charcoal are molecules that are particularly harmful to your health because they are carcinogenic.
Why do we feel obliged to prick sausages?
After experiencing merguez sausages bursting or chipos during cooking, some people have made it a habit to prick them beforehand. A sausage bursting is certainly an unpleasant surprise, but rest assured, it mainly happens with industrial sausages, which are often too fatty. With quality products, you won't experience this type of inconvenience.
How to choose your sausages well?
Go to the butcher to find quality products with just the right balance, in which the proportions of meat and fat are controlled. With homemade or artisanal sausages, you will no longer be afraid of them bursting. The casing will also be more resistant, thus avoiding inconvenience. On the contrary, piercing them could dry them out.
Note: if not pricking sausages allows them to retain their juice and tenderness, the same principle applies when cooking a whole chicken or a rib steak on the barbecue. Not pricking or scoring your meat helps to retain the juice inside and thus preserve all the tenderness of the meat.
Cooking sausages well on the BBQ
For ideal sausage cooking on the barbecue, remember to turn them regularly, using tongs instead of a fork, like the ones in our stainless steel utensil pack. Avoid cooking them over too high a heat and keep the sausages far enough away from the embers, at least 10 cm. Thanks to the Kokko, opt for low-temperature cooking, with the lid closed, for tender and perfectly cooked sausages!
Discover the interview with Jacky, who gave us his tips for cooking with the Kokko, as well as his delicious recipes.
