Healthier Grilled Sausages with More Crispy Bits

hi r/recipes. With the contiuned heat, I grilled some sausages outdoors this weekend. Now sausages are delicious, but often can be pretty heavy and fatty. I tried a method that removes this excess greasiness while still maintaining a good degree of juciness and gives more surface area for that smoky browned goodness from a grill. You can also not drain them if you don't want to, but the cooking times might change.

Whole process from start to finish takes about 45 mins depending on how smoky and charred you like your sausages, and I tried 2 methods for the initial cooking of the sausages. Once that's done, both methods finish cooking on the grill. Here's a video of me making them to help out!

https://youtu.be/2eX8HD1nRQM

Below is the list of ingredients and tools. It's not exactly extensive, there's 1 ingredient and not too many tools are really needed.

Ingredients:

• Sausages (and that's about it)

Tools:

• Large Pot
• Tongs/Chopsticks/Spatula/Slotted Spoon
• Grill
• Paper
• Wood & Twigs
• Charcoal

Method 1:

1. Place Sausages in a pot of water
2. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer
3. Simmer for 6 - 8 mins
4. Take the sausages out, then slice in half

Method 2:

1. Set up the grill with the paper, wood/twigs, and charcoal (I used 9 briquettes for 6 sausages)
2. Light the paper, cover with the grate, and let it all burn for a bit, until you start to see a bit of white on the charcoal
3. Set the sausages directly over the charcoals
4. Let them cook like this for 2 mins, then give the sausages a quarter turn
5. Repeat this procedure until you've gone all the way around the sausage
6. Slice em in half

Final Cooking:

1. Place the sausage halves cut side up directly atop the smoking charcoal in one layer. Cook for 5 mins
2. If there's not enough space for all the sausage halves, then work in batches. Remove the first batch of sausage halves, set aside somewhere else on the grill, and place the next batch atop the charcoals cut side up for another 5 mins.
3. Once you've cooked all batches cut side up for 5 mins, place them cut side down atop the charcoals for 5 mins. You can stack the sausage halves on top of each other in layers at this point
4. Rotate the layers of sausages every 5 mins until you get to the level of browning desired

Pretty simple! Method 1 is easier as you don't have to control a fire so intensely like in Method 2 and you don't risk sausages bursting open. However Method 2 gives more smoke flavor (and I like it more).

The cutting the sausages in half is what drains a lot of the fattiness, and lowers the calorie count. But the sausages should still be plenty juicy as long as you're attentive, and you get more maillard browning because there's 2 sides that can get crispy!

I did this on a charcal grill, but it can be done on a gas grill too. If you want a smoky flavor though, then you can wrap some wood in foil and set it directly on one of your burners - i've never done this as I don't own a gas grill, so be careful! America's Test Kitchen has a great vid demonstrating what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH4epaqjS-o&t=16m13s

Let me know which method you guys used and how this turned out for you! Any feedback is appreciated.

bon appetit