Q: “Do healthy sausages exist? Does pricking and pre-cooking sausages do anything to get rid of the fat?”
Mabel
A: Some sausages can have as little as three per cent fat while others have more than 20 per cent fat, half of which is saturated. So label reading is important. Look for a sausage with less than 10g fat per 100g, and less than 4g saturated fat. Also look for sausages with less than 600mg sodium per 100g. There are meat and vegetarian sausages out there that fit these criteria.
In general, it pays to spend a little more on quality sausages with a higher meat content as these are likely to be lower in fat and fillers, with flavourings other than salt.
Sausages don’t need any extra fat to cook. Drain them on paper towels before serving to soak up excess fat.
It is possible that pricking and pre-cooking sausages may drain away some fat. However, some sausages have an ingredient which emulsifies (binds) fat to the other ingredients, or they could be mechanically emulsified, which means the ingredients have been blended into small particles in a way which binds the mixture together. So choose a lower-fat banger in the first place to save yourself some effort.
www.healthyfood.com
