I never prick my sausages. I have been led to believe this is bad practice. Intuitively, I can see why: you let all the flavoursome juices leak out when you do so, and the sausage is dry and less tasty as a result. People say you should prick sausages to avoid them splitting, but my sausages never split so... are they just cooking them on too high a heat?
So, there I was, smug in the knowledge that the alleged necessity for pricking sausages was one of those food fallacies like putting coffee in the freezer that non-chefs believe. My view was further reinforced by the observation that Bavarian, French and German restaurants never prick the sausages they serve me.
However, the other day I met a butcher's son who was adamant that sausages should be pricked, as otherwise they 'boil rather than frying' due to the moisture inside. This sounds extremely dubious to me, if only because my sausages taste perfectly fine and 'unboiled' without pricking. Also, if a sauage's insides are 'boiled' when unpricked, I cannot see how pricking will make them not boil inside, even if the steam does escape. However, he was quite insistent and sure of his ground. He had an English accent - in my view, the English cook everything wrong.
What's you're view?
― moley, Sunday, 10 April 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)
yum, i could go a bbqed snagger right now. in answer to the question, no i don't prick mine.
― gem (trisk), Sunday, 10 April 2005 02:48 (twenty years ago)
I guess it all comes down to who you choose to believe.
I read in Gourmet Traveller that you shouldn't prick sausages because the idea of them being in cellulose or the preferred gut casing is to hold all the flavour and aid in the cooking of the sausage.
― Kate / Productive Pedagog (papa november), Sunday, 10 April 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)
you should prick your sausages but never sausage your prick
― kingfish maximum overdrunk (Kingfish), Sunday, 10 April 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)
absolutely, unless you're cooking really cheap sausages you should not prick them. the only reason sausages would boil witout pricking is if they're really cheap and have a high water content. The liquid in decent sausages, once you start cooking them, is fat, where the taste is. mmmn sausages.....
― Vicky (Vicky), Sunday, 10 April 2005 03:17 (twenty years ago)
This thing about them boiling inside rather than frying: what if you grill your sausages anyway?
(I'm one of the non-prickers. Sometimes they split, sometimes they don't. The annoying thing about splitting is that usually it means they bend too, which then means you can't get them evenly browned all the way round)
― caitlin (caitlin), Sunday, 10 April 2005 06:16 (twenty years ago)
if you don't prick merguez they will burst and piss fat everywhere tho
― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Sunday, 10 April 2005 08:20 (twenty years ago)