Why You Need To Be Wary Of Explosions When Grilling Sausage

Every grilling season, Americans clean off their grill grates (or at least they should, hint hint), fire up their Webers, and get down to creating some sweet, sweet smoked meat magic. It doesn't have to be meat, obviously, but if you're not a vegetarian/vegan, there's just something about the smell of protein grilling that feels like summer. While you can grill a lot of different meats — steaks, ribs, burgers, chicken legs, kabobs — one of the more common you'll see, and for good reason, is sausages. Grilled bratwurst is one of summer's singular delights.

But there's a flip side to the deliciousness of properly-grilled sausage; it's surprisingly easy to mess it up. An improperly-grilled meat tube is a problem, because if you're not careful, it's going to explode. No, not literally explode — that would be a lot messier and require emergency services to be contacted — but the end result still might make your taste buds feel like a tragedy has occurred.

Unless your sausage is actually a cunningly-disguised stick of TNT, it's not going to really explode; instead, the ends of the sausages might "explode" outwards as the casing bursts. This not only makes them look unsightly, but it dries them out, as the delicious juices escape into the fire, and nobody wants that.

So should you just not grill sausage? Some chefs seem to hold that opinion; of course, some chefs also think you shouldn't grill burgers, so take that advice with a grain of salt. 

You can — and should — grill sausage, it's just about being careful how you do it. To avoid your sausages exploding, there's a simple fix: Simmer or poach them first, then transfer them to the grill. The level of heat is important here, too; you don't want to expose the sausages to high heat, because that will shrink the casing, essentially squeezing them. Instead, use medium indirect heat, and be sure to turn occasionally. Do all that, and your sausages will come out perfectly.

While sausages are quite grill-able as long as you do it the right way, there are some meats you want to avoid putting near the backyard barbecue. While chicken thighs and drumsticks, for instance, have enough fat content to hold up in the process, chicken breast can be so lean that the high heat of a grill could potentially dry it out. Pork chops are a problem for the same reason (although pork shoulder or ribs do fantastically). Brisket is a particularly tough meat, one that can only reach its full potential if cooked low and slow enough to allow the collagen in it to break down. Then there's bacon, which needs direct, consistent heat; you're simply not going to get that on a grill, where parts of it will cook while others stay undercooked — and there are few things as disgusting as undercooked bacon.

Using a grill is like so much in cooking: You have to be smart about it. While it's a bad idea to try grilling things like bacon, pork chops, chicken breast, or brisket, sausages are a go — as long as you're doing them the right way.