Sticky Sweet Sausages

Our answer

Nigella has several different recipes for sausages cooked in a sticky glaze. These include the recipes for Cocktail Sausages and Cosmo Cocktail Sausages on this site (see links below) and those that appear in her books, including Wholegrain Mustard and Ginger Cocktail Sausages (Kitchen, p418).

These recipes do not use frankfurter-style sausages, they use the small, skinny sausages usually labelled as "cocktail sausages" in UK supermarkets (they are about the size of a thumb). The thickness of the sausages is the most most important thing - partly so that they cook correctly in the alotted time and partly so you get the optimal balance of sticky surface to meaty interior. If you can't get the cocktail size sausages then the skinny chipolatas will also be fine, though you will need to buy half as many sausages as the chipolatas are roughly twice the length of their cocktail cousins. You can also gently and carefully twist the chipolatas in the centre and snip to form cocktail size sausages from chipolatas, though this is somewhat time consuming if making large quantities.

In the US sausages are slightly different to those in the UK and chipolatas and cocktail sausages are hard to find. However skinny breakfast sausage links can be used instead. Some supermarkets and grocery stores sell them at the butcher's counter or in the frozen or refrigerated section (such as Jones Dairy Little Links). Again you can cook the sausages whole or divide them into smaller cocktail size portions, as described above.

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cocktail-sausages-91

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cosmo-cocktail-sausages