The Lowdown on Sausages

Did you know we Kiwis munch our way through eight million sausages each week?

Sausages have been a recurring theme for me lately. I spent a fascinating day recently helping to judge the Devro New Zealand Sausage Competition, an annual award to find NZ’s best sausage from a field of 470 entrants. What I didn’t know about sausages before (which was quite a lot) I know now; I was lucky to have two butchers at my judging table who gave me the benefit of their years of experience. So now I know the difference between natural and synthetic casings; how the meat should be ground; how the ingredients should be distributed in a sausage; how much fat and seasoning and spices are ideal, and much more besides.

Just this week at Healthy Food Guide we’ve been looking at sausages in another context: their fat content. In our January 2012 issue you’ll be able to see how some popular sausages rank fat-wise; be prepared – there are some shocks!

Sausages are not, traditionally, what you might call a health food. So I was pleased to hear head judge of the sausage competition, Kerry Tyack, say that New Zealand sausage manufacturers are getting better at making their products healthier and more delicious.

“Our butchers are listening to consumers and responding with better ingredients, less fat, lower salt and innovative flavour combinations,” he says. This seems to be reflected in what we found when we looked in the shops, too, although it is definitely worthwhile taking a little time in choosing your sausages and comparing brands.

From a health point of view, the issues with sausages are usually fat (saturated fat in particular) and sodium (salt), both of which can be really high in some sausages. In our ideal world at Healthy Food Guide, all sausages would have less than 10 per cent fat, less than four per cent saturated fat and under 600mg sodium per 100g. When we checked, there are some sausages which do meet these criteria, but also a lot which don’t.

That doesn’t necessarily mean your favourite sausi needs to be off the menu. The supreme winner in the sausage competition was the Italian Casalinga sausage from Ashby’s Butchery in Christchurch. Although not a super low-fat sausage (it comes in at 15.9 per cent), it has intense, delicious flavour from Italian herbs and fennel seeds. This is a great example of a sausage that can be used in different ways, rather than simply slapped between a couple of bits of bread. Use good-quality, highly-flavoured sausages to add flavour to salads, pastas and stews. Three sausages, chopped and gently sautéed, can easily serve four or more in the context of a salad with white beans, rocket, asparagus and lemon; or a pasta with spinach, garlic, green beans, fresh tomatoes and shavings of parmesan. Think outside the square with these kinds of sausages and you’ll make them the real star of the meal.

When it comes to the barbecue, where you’re likely to eat more than one sausage, go for as low-fat and low-sodium as you can. And don’t forget you can ruin a healthier sausage by adding saturated fat in the cooking and serving. Don’t add any fat when cooking; drain them on absorbent paper when they’re cooked; and serve with lashings of colourful salads and potato salad or grainy bread. And go easy on the butter: if you want something on the bread with your sausage, try a fruity relish.