THE HUMBLE BANGER

WE AUSSIES LOVE A SAUSAGE. WHY NOT TRY STEVE CUMPER’S ITALIAN-STYLE BRAISE?

Steve Cumper sings the praises of the Aussie snag.

OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS readers of this column will recall my affinity with the humble sausage. Now, I understand I am not alone. Traversing the kilometres of refrigerated aisles devoted to its worship throughout this country, you come to appreciate just how much of a cornerstone it is not only to our eating culture but our culture in general. Big call, you say? Apparently, Australians are in the highest category of meat eaters per capita in the world and as far as snags go, we consume in excess of 1.1 billion per annum. 1.1 billion! This evidence may not even take into account the last few years in which Bunnings, our home improvement retailer, has singlehandedly shifted a huge number of them. If it was difficult to imagine that one day petrol stations would eventually sell groceries, then a hardware store selling food comes as a very big surprise.

As with any spike in food consumption, the inevitable health warnings arrive like a caboose after the carriages and the locomotive. Apparently, the snags we consume these days are full of salt. This makes sense as the techniques of yesteryear have changed from adding emulsifiers and other ‘fillings’ (which gave sausages their infamous ‘mystery bags’ moniker). These days, convention dictates sausages are mostly made from ground meat, fat and flavourings. In order to render the sausage texture consistently ‘smooth’, it is now routinely mixed with copious amounts of salt, which bind the protein of the meat. So, we did away with all of those binders only to replace them with more sodium that, as our health experts point out, is not good for us.

Surely occasionally eating sausages in moderation as part of a healthy balanced diet is okay.

There is so much information about on the pitfalls of this or that food, but there is very little column space devoted to the positive mental health effects that the sensual pleasure of eating can have on us. I’m not talking about comfort or binge eating here, but more like the studied sensuousness of say, Proust’s madeleine moment. For those who don’t want to wade through his seven volumes to reveal this particular and significant detail, it’s basically a remembrance of his life through the simple act of eating a small cake. Must’ve been a good cake, eh? Well, it did have a profound effect on Proust and his explorations of that instant propelled him into the canon of world literature. It also celebrated – perhaps for the first time – that food and cooking could be viewed as something above mere fuel and possibly even worthy of the praise we usually reserve for the high arts.

There is a scene in the movie Goodfellas where an Italian gangster character vividly recalls the technique used to make the base for the pasta sauce. The reverence for the procedure is palpable and makes me fall in love all over again with the pairing of sausage and peppers. I hope you like this recipe and, of course, enjoy those snags in moderation!

SAUSAGES, POLENTA + BRAISED PEPPERS

SERVES 4

150ml extra virgin olive oil

1 red onion, finely diced

2 red capsicums, de-seeded,

cut into strips

2 yellow capsicums, de-seeded,

cut into strips

2 green capsicums, de-seeded,

cut into strips

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves 250ml white wine

50g baby capers, drained, rinsed 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

½ bunch basil, leaves picked

8 thick Italian pork and fennel sausages 500ml chicken stock

½ cup coarse ground polenta 100g butter, cubed

100g grated parmesan

In a heavy skillet, heat the oil and gently fry onion over medium heat until translucent.

Add the capsicums, reduce heat to low; cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and tarragon; cook until starting to catch on the base of the pan. Add white wine and simmer gently until the wine has nearly evaporated. Add capers and vinegar. The peppers should be very soft and the colours beginning to meld with each other. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in ¾ of the basil leaves then set aside, for the flavours to develop.

Chargrill or barbecue the sausages, turning over a low heat, until cooked and browned all over.

Meanwhile, bring the chicken stock to the boil in a medium saucepan; add the polenta in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and whisk until thickened, like a very soft mashed potato. Stir in the butter, then add the parmesan. Check the seasoning and adjust to your liking.

Serve sausages on the braise of capsicums and the polenta as a side dish.