Why are sausages common to almost every cuisine from English to Thai?
Every culture does seem to have a love of sausages of one type or another, whether it’s based on the Italian, Spanish and French cured sausages or on the German or British style fresh sausages. Apart from the fact they so delicious and easy to cook, I think it’s also because it’s a great way of keeping meat longer than you could when kept fresh. After all, the word sausage comes from the Latin salsus meaning salted or preserved.

There are fresh sausages and cured sausages. But are there further categories within fresh ones?
You could come up with many different categories, but most fresh sausages can be put in one of two: either ground/minced sausages like the British favorite cumberland, or a German-style emulsified sausages like a weisswurst. On top of this you also get sausages that aren’t stuffed into a casing like Mexican chorizo and the American Italian sausage. Then there’s smoked/unsmoked etc; the list could go on for ever.

What are some ways, other than on a grill, to cook sausages at home?
We do get numerous other varieties these days, but apart from a few exceptions sausages are traditionally made from pork, so they should really be cooked through and never served rare. Ideally a sausage should be cooked to about 70 C, but try not to overcook it, as they will start to lose their moistness. Sausages can be grilled, sautéed or baked in an oven, but the real trick is to cook them slowly.

What’s your advice on how to store and defrost meat?
My main tip would be to make sure you never re-freeze anything that’s already been frozen and then defrosted. Not only is this extremely bad due to the growth of bacteria, but you’ll ruin the texture of the meat. But as long as the meat/sausages are fresh, then they will freeze well for up to three months. Just make sure you wrap them up well and always try and defrost them slowly overnight in the fridge.

What are some things to look out for when purchasing sausages for home use?
Look for the same things you would when choosing a piece of meat; make sure it looks fresh, if it’s looking a little tired around the edges it’s probably been sitting there for a while. For ground/minced British style sausages look at the marbling of the fat. It should have a good mix of fat through the meat and have a nice amount of herbs showing.