Grilling Sausages

[JasonFrishman]

I Love Sausages. (I know, some of you know me as the Veggie Patty Peddling guy at Saturday's Burlington Farmers' Market, I eat both ways.) Anyway, If I was ever to give up meat completely, the thing that I would miss most is sausages grilled to perfection on a hot summer evening. Well, I'd miss sausages prepared most any way, but grilling is my favorite.

Now, I hope that I don't have to say this, but make sure that they are good quality sausages - hopefully from one of the farmers over at market. My favorite is anything from Maple Wind Farm (http://maplewindfarm.com/), but any of the meat farmers at markets have excellent links.

Anyway, there is a problem inherent with grilling sausages.  If they are too fatty, there are too many flames and flare ups.  The outside gets kinda charred, while the inside is not so perfectly cooked. If they are not fatty enough, then they get dry and, um, not good.  I got this tip from Cooks Illustrated last summer and it is now the only way that I will grill sausages...

• Get a Medium-Hot grill going.
  Take an aluminum roasting pan (if you don't want to use aluminum, I have done this in a small cast iron dutch over pan, it just needs to have a good lid)
  Layer the bottom of the pan with sliced onioni rounds, sliced potatoes, a bunch of sauerkraut, peppers - basically anything that you'd like as a side to your sausages.
  As you layer the veggies, season them however you'd like.
  Then lay the sausages in a single layer right on top of the veggies and cover tightly.
  Place pan on the grill for, oh say 18 minutes (or so), move pan to a cooler area of the grill.
  Open pan up, and take out the sausages, and place right onto the grill to finish.
  You can stir the veggies or keep them in a nice layered fashion.
  

Basically, you get a side dish, cooked with the fabulously flavored rendered fat from the sausages, and sausages that stay moist, and then are perfectly smoky and charred from the finishing on the grill. It's really good!

If you're interested in more variations, this is taken from the July-August 2008 edition of Cooks Illustrated.

Any grilling tips as we get into summer and start grilling some more?

[Suzanne Podhaizer]

That's a great tip, thanks!

I got a bunch of homemade sausages from a very talented friend, and I've been trying to figure out something out of the ordinary to do with them. This sounds like the answer!

I'm thinking that depending on the kind of sausage, the pan could be also lined with things like fennel, fresh artichoke hearts (cleaned and halved) or shredded cabbage.

I'm also wondering if it might be feasible to cook rice right in the pan, but I'm not sure it would work. Time to experiment! 

[JasonFrishman]

I'd be interested in hearing how the rice would work.
perhaps a faster cooking grain like quinoa?
or maybe even something like a griddlecake batter (which would only get better with the advent of sausage grease dripping down onto it!)

and, yes, definitely, depending on the type of sausage switching the other ingredients around is awe-some.  i did use halved fennel last summer and can't wait to try that again this year.  i imagine even something like a bunch of baby bok choy would be tasty, with some other matching ingredients.

now, hmm.... a talented friend who makes home made sausage?!?! i think that i'd like to meet this person!  (perhaps a master sauce barter for some sausage? - or some master sauce mixed directly into a sausage?!)
wow. i am going to have to think on that one for awhile!

[LinseyB]

jay, i think i just died and went to heaven...i LOVE sausages in the summer, and this sounds spectacular...you, my friend, are a grilling mastermind!!  thanks!!
Lins

[tonyo]

You can incorporate rice, but you will need to add some liquid such as chicken stock.  For a real treat, look up a paella recipe and adjust ingredienta based on your personal taste.  The rice will cook and if you do it just right, a nice crust will form on the bottom of the pan.  Quite a treat and great for parties.  You can even do mutiple paellas: maybe one seafood, one meat (sausage, rabbit, chicken works), and one vegetable.

I have done sausages like Jason mentioned with tomato, summer squash, zucchini, leeks, garlic etc. for a great summer meal.