More than one way to grill a sausage

Saw this in the Tribune today about grilling sausages and wondered what the consensus was here.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/tribu/ct-tribu-daley-question-sausage-20110705,0,7852897.story

"Parboil those sausages before grilling
The Daley Question tackles strategies for successful sausage cooking on the grill
By Bill Daley, Tribune Newspapers
July 5, 2011
Q: For years people have parboiled raw brats and other sausages in wine or beer, onions, ground pepper, butter, etc. With the sausages securely encased in casing, do the sausages really absorb the flavors? What is the best method to prepare sausages for the grill?

—Scott B. Smith, Huntley, Ill.

A: Doug Sohn of Hot Doug's, Chicago's "sausage superstore and encased meat emporium," says parboiling fresh sausages in something flavorful like wine or beer does make the sausage meat and sausage casing tastier. More importantly, cooking fresh sausage ahead of time like that "toughens up" the casing so there's less chance of the casing sticking or falling apart once on the grill. And pre-cooking shortens up the time the sausage has to sit on the grill, reducing the risk of burning.

"With any fresh sausage, we always par-cook it,'' he says.

Jamie Purviance offers a recipe in the new "Weber's Way to Cook" (Sunset, $24.95) for bratwurst that calls for parboiling before grilling...”

The recipe calls for piercing the fresh brats several times before par-boiling them in the liquid. Now I thought that was a no-no and would eventually dry out the sausage. Maybe I'm wrong.

I've par-boiled sausages before grilling and also direct grilled fresh sausages. I've indirect grilled sausages and smoked sausages to great results. I've even direct grilled sausages and put them in a warming bath with beer and onions. I like 'em all but was wondering - what do you do?

I'm a big believer in par-cooking sausages, less for flavor and more for texture & timing control.

I actually cook sausages sous vide before grilling, which allows me to control and hold them at the right temp while waiting for the grill (or other items) to be ready.

-Dan

What temperature do you hold sausages at before grilling them?

Here's a link to Gary's excellent tutoral on this very subject.

All weekend Steve Raichlen's BBQ University has been on Create TV 11.3.

How Steve made his brats:
- No piercings.
- Smoked (Weber kettle), I think it was for 45 minutes
- Into a bath of beer, butter, onions until ready to serve ... he suggested these could be held for several hours.

Regards,

I first take one or two spanish onions, slice them thin, and put them in a microwave-safe bowl. Add some olive oil, salt and pepper. Microwave on high for approx. 5 minutes. Transfer to a disposable aluminum pan. Place sausage on top of onions and cover with aluminum foil. Place on grill. Let them cook until the sausage is cooked thru. Then crisp them up on the grill. No flame-ups since most of the fat has been rendered into the onions. I think I remember seeing this from Cooks Illustrated.

I do this with Italian sausage sometimes depending upon who's coming to dinner.
My dad likes it more tender so I simmer them in beef stock until cooked through and then brown them in a frying pan with olive oil and the onions and peppers. The result is like a Portillo's sausage that doesn't have the toothy, chewy quality you get at Johnnie's

I've simmered brats in beer and then grilled them. I've also simmered them in beer after grilling. A former colleague of mine simmered-grilled-and-then-simmered!

Simmering post grill is a great way to keep a large quantity of brats warm during a party.

I found that they taste great whichever way you do it. They key is not to overcook the meat; it will start to dry out above 140 degrees or so. It is especially important not to overcook it if you poke holes in the casing.

I'm with Raichlen on this one. I grill them slowly over a medium fire, being careful not to pierce or split them, Then transfer them to a beer, grilled onion and butter bath to keep them warm 'til serving. They don't dry out this way.

I just cook 'em slowly (cool side of a two-stage fire), transfer them over to the hot side for about a minute a side to crisp 'em up when they're done, and serve them immediately. I don't like holding sausages for any reason. *cough*

Binko wrote:I just cook 'em slowly (cool side of a two-stage fire), transfer them over to the hot side for about a minute a side to crisp 'em up when they're done, and serve them immediately. I don't like holding sausages for any reason. *cough*

This is what I do. Cook 'em slow over charcoal - maybe 10-15 minutes total. They come out great every time. Parboil is a waste of time IMO.

Grilled 10# of Angelo Caputo's most excellent sweet Italian sausage on medium heat (with sauteed sweet peppers, melted provolone and hot giardinara) for the team at work today. It was perfect, no bath necessary.

For brats, I prefer a post-grill bath in beer with onions and butter at home. Unfortunately, since I forbid beer at work in any form, I gently par-cook the brats in beer before grilling them at the office. That's the only time any sausage I grill gets close to boiling.

In this thread on bratwurst, several LTHers who did side-by-side comparisons concluded that the best flavor and texture was from direct grilling without any par-cooking or post-cooking soak.

I'm in the grill-only crowd. Unless you can keep you bath at exactly 140-145 degrees, I think you end up over cooking the sausage. It only takes ~15 minutes to grill up a batch, people can wait that long.