On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:21:48 -0800, Gas Bag wrote:

Years ago a butcher told me that some people boil sausages (before
frying/grilling them) to remove the fat. They typically boil them for
about 20 minutes or so.

You do NOT boil them, but par boil, like a long simmer. If you boil them,
they will split. We did it often with thick sausaes that we took on cub
hikes so we knew that they were essentially cooked and all the boy had to
do was brown the outside. Otherwise it was some charcoal coated red mince
result.

I actually steam/"boil" my sausages of a morning. We freeze them n offset
pair in a baking tray so i can break off a pair and then put them into
waer in the fry pan on a low heat whilst I have my morning shower.
basically, this slowly thaws the sausage.

If I want a fried sausae, I can cut back on the water and their is still
plenty of fat/flavour to fry them.

the major difference in taste is the manufacturer, not the method of
cooking. I'll point out that I have sausaes with obvious meat(gristle,
etc, {:-), aka Italian) in them and not those tubes of paste they call
breakfast sausages here.