Why It's A Bad Idea To Cook Sausage With High Heat

Sausages are a delicious way to package all different kinds of cuts of meat into one juicy bundle. They can be eaten in tons of different ways, and you can find them in lots of different types of cuisine. Sausages, unlike other whole cuts of meat, are a bit more multifaceted than their uncut counterparts, and when cooking them, you can't approach them the same way you would, say, a steak.

When concerning any kind of meat, heat is the most important factor and the one you want the most control over. Your sausages may look so robust and tasty that you want to just get them cooking on a ripping high heat right away, but this is not a good idea. According to Serious Eats, super high temperatures can cause your sausage casings to rip, resulting in an ugly messy mass, or they can cause your sausages to cook wildly unevenly. Cooking too high of heat can burn the outside quickly while leaving the interior essentially raw.

Instead of burning away willy-nilly, you want to make sure that the heat you're using on your sausages is high enough to cook evenly but not so high as to spell disaster. You could always get a meat thermometer and keep a close measured eye on your sausages to make sure that they are where you want them to be. Meat thermometers are a good purchase for any chef, so it's a good investment. 

Bon Appétit suggests poaching the sausages before giving them a nice deep sear. Simmering your sausages before cooking in the pan or on a grill will allow for the interior of the sausage to cook evenly and softly while still retaining structural integrity. Then taking your sausages off and cooking them on high heat quickly will give them a tasty, crispy sear on all sides. This will make sure that your sausages aren't raw but also have a tight and beautifully browned casing.