Ingredients
Sausages
- 12thin beef or pork sausages, the plain supermarket kind, about 1.2 kg
- 2 tbspneutral oil for the plate
Onions
- 4large brown onions, sliced into rings or half moons
- 2 tbspoil
- 1 pinchsalt
Bread and sauce
- 12 slicesof plain white sandwich bread, one per sausage, laid flat and never toasted
- tomato sauce
- barbecue sauce
- mustard, for the minority who want it
- butter or margarine, optional and contentious
Equipment
- a flat plate barbecue, gas or charcoal
- long tongs
- a folding trestle table and a cash tin, if fundraising
Directions
- Heat the flat plate to a steady medium, around 180°C (350°F), not the ferocious heat people default to; sausages need time for the fat to render and the skin to brown without splitting.
- Oil one section of the plate and start the onions first, in a heap at the cooler end, tossing them occasionally with the tongs and sprinkling with a pinch of salt so they sweat down.
- Cook the onions for 20 to 25 minutes, moving them around, until they are limp, sweet and brown at the edges. Push them to the coolest corner and keep them there as a reservoir.
- Lay the sausages on the oiled plate in rows and leave them alone for 3 to 4 minutes at a time, turning every few minutes with the tongs so they colour on all sides.
- Never prick the skins. Piercing them lets the fat and juices out and gives you a dry, shrunken sausage; if one splits, it has been cooked too hot.
- Cook 15 to 20 minutes total, until the skins are evenly browned all over and the internal temperature is 75°C (165°F), at which point a sausage feels firm and springs back when pressed with the tongs.
- Lay a slice of white bread flat in the hand, put the onions on the bread first and the sausage on top of them, which is the safety convention adopted across Australia after Bunnings changed its guidance in 2018 to stop loose onion rings hitting the floor and tripping people.
- Squeeze on tomato or barbecue sauce, fold the bread diagonally around the sausage rather than rolling it, and eat it standing up in a car park.
Technique
- Bread, not a bun. The sausage sizzle is served on a single flat slice of plain white bread folded around the sausage, and using a hot dog roll marks you out immediately as someone who has misunderstood.
- Onions under the sausage is a genuine national convention with a documented origin: Bunnings issued the guidance in 2018 on slip-hazard grounds, and it prompted a week of national debate.
- The sausage sizzle is fundraising infrastructure, run outside hardware stores, at school fetes and at polling booths, where election-day versions are known as democracy sausages.
- Medium heat and patience beat high heat. A blackened, burst sausage with a raw middle is the classic amateur result.
Substitutions
- Vegetarian and halal sausages are standard at most modern sizzles and cook the same way, though they need less time and a little more oil.
- No flat plate: a heavy cast-iron pan over a moderate flame works, or grill bars set to indirect heat.
- Wholemeal bread is permitted but frowned upon.
Variations
- The democracy sausage, sold at polling booths on federal election day, is the same thing with national significance and its own tracking website.
- A cheese sizzle adds a slice of processed cheese under the sausage.
- In some states the sauce goes on the bread before the sausage, which is a matter of ongoing dispute.
History
Hardware-store and school fundraisers made it a weekend ritual; the election-day version was named democracy sausage, Australia’s 2016 word of the year.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sausage Sizzle?
Sausage Sizzle is a street food from Australia: grilled sausage on white bread with onions and sauce, fundraiser classic. Hardware-store and school fundraisers made it a weekend ritual; the election-day version was named democracy sausage, Australia’s 2016 word of the year.
How long does Sausage Sizzle take to make?
Sausage Sizzle takes 15 min of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 sausages in bread. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Sausage Sizzle?
Yes, within limits. Vegetarian and halal sausages are standard at most modern sizzles and cook the same way, though they need less time and a little more oil. No flat plate: a heavy cast-iron pan over a moderate flame works, or grill bars set to indirect heat. Wholemeal bread is permitted but frowned upon.
What is the most important thing to get right in Sausage Sizzle?
Never prick the skins. Piercing them lets the fat and juices out and gives you a dry, shrunken sausage; if one splits, it has been cooked too hot.
