If you are cooking sausages in the oven, you are doing it all wrong.
David Rossiter owns the century-old Westmere Butchery in Auckland and is the winner of New Zealand's best sausage of 2024 with his pork and leek sausage. It is fair to say he knows something about cooking the meat-eaters' staple of New Zealand's summer.
Rossiter stocks 36 varieties of sausages and has won the Dunninghams Great New Zealand Sausage Competition award several times.
Putting a sausage in the oven dries it out, he says.
"You lose a lot of the moisture into the oven.
"Don't prick them because you lose all the flavour, juices, and moisture goes out of the sausage."
Rossiter has owned Westmere Butchery for 25 years. He says the consensus among all the butchers he knows when it comes to cooking sausage is the fry pan or barbeque.
Auckland's Westmere Butcher. Photo: Samuel Robinson/RNZ
"When you cook it on the grill or the fry pan the flavour stays with the sausage," he says.
"A little bit of oil, but not a hell of a lot" is helpful for the frying pan.
Always cook on medium heat to avoid the sausage skin bursting.
"You don't want to cook them too hot. That is when the skin starts to pop and meat comes out from either end."
Cook time for a sausage is about 20 mins and they should be turned occasionally so they cook evenly.
Rossiter attributes his sausage win to a few things. His "sausage boy" has been with him since he bought Westmere Butcher and does a solid job.
Another key is striking the balance with the grind of the meat - not too fine, not too coarse.
The flavours also need to be balanced and not overdone. Rossiter's pork and leek sausage contains salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.
The sausage beat more than 800 entrants to claim the nation's top prize.
"It is my granddaughter's favourite and she said we have to enter it ... so she is on the Christmas list again."
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