For a very long time, I resisted spiral chopping my scorching canine—it felt slightly infantile and twee. I couldn’t assist however image the cookouts of my youth, the place my sensible mom, resistant to buying two forms of bun, would hasselback a frank and coil it onto a hamburger bun like a grub. 

However spiral chopping has advantages past aesthetic novelty. First, the strategy—which includes slicing the recent canine throughout right into a coil—lengthens the canine, which means it will possibly run edge-to-edge within the bun, which saves you from bare bites of bread. Second, it creates grippy little pockets the place condiments can settle, suffusing taste in every chew. Third—and most significantly—it will increase the canine’s floor space, permitting for added browning and caramelization. Because of this, each Joshua Bousel and Daniel Gritzer suggest both slashing or spiral chopping skinless franks of their scorching canine grilling information. (Although Daniel barely favors slashing, which he says is quicker and fewer prone to result in overcooking.)

However why cease at a skinless frank? If spiral chopping works so effectively for decent canine, why not different forms of sausage? I made a decision to attempt spiral chopping 5 forms of sausages: a skinless scorching canine, a skinless rooster sausage, an andouille sausage, an Italian sausage, and a bratwurst. The recent canine and rooster sausage had been precooked, whereas the opposite three had been uncooked.

A small, commonsense voice in my head mentioned: For those who minimize right into a uncooked sausage, it would disintegrate. It’s going to weep fats onto the coals and enrobe your canine in a blanket of soot. 

However a louder goblin voice mentioned: What in the event you simply…see?

How one can Spiral Reduce a Sausage

Spiral chopping a sausage is dead-simple, however could be arduous to visualise. A video information helps, however I’ll do my greatest to stroll you thru it right here. First, skewer the sausage lengthwise by way of the middle. Then, place your knife at an angle close to one of many ends, and minimize down till you hit the skewer. Slowly rotate the sausage away from you as you narrow, preserving your knife on the identical angle. Fastidiously take away the skewer, and your reward will likely be a sausage that appears like a phone wire. 

The Spiral-Slicing Checks

For ease of comparability, I grilled every sausage 3 ways: absolutely intact, scored with shallow slashes on reverse sides, and spiraled. I arrange my grill for two-zone heating, preserving the “scorching” facet beneath 350°F, and I cooked the sausages to temp: 140°F (60°C) for the pre-cooked sausages, 150°F (65.5°C) for the uncooked canine (in keeping with Kenji’s information).

Lastly, I adopted the recommendation of barbecue professional Meathead Goldwyn and cooked the sausages parallel to the grates (primarily, holstered between them) fairly than perpendicular. In principle, positioning the sausages this manner lets you simply nudge them over to the following hole like these gasoline station scorching canine curler grills, and in addition promotes even browning. However I made the selection principally out of aesthetic disregard. I used to be already flouting conference with spiral cuts; I figured I would as effectively give the sausages pinstripes, too. 

Will It Spiral?

Skinless Scorching Canine

As anticipated, the skinless scorching canine fared effectively beneath all three therapies. The intact canine was the juiciest—and in addition the least texturally attention-grabbing. The slashed canine properly balanced juiciness and slightly further caramelization, however I most well-liked the spiral-cut canine. The extra crisped edges gave the skinless canine a snap that evoked a pure casing scorching canine (my desire, however tougher to supply in my pocket of the Midwest). The spiral-cut model additionally got here as much as temperature extra rapidly than the intact and slashed canine—although the time financial savings are actually solely a minute or two.

Do you have to spiral minimize it? Sure. 

Hen Sausage

The rooster sausage behaved virtually identically to the skinless frank: The precooked sausage held collectively effectively by way of each slashing and spiraling, with out drying out. Though the intact model was marginally extra moist, the distinction was slight sufficient to make the additional browning a worthy trade-off. Plus, the spiral-cut model got here as much as temp slightly extra rapidly than each the intact and slashed sausages, making it a win for style, texture, and comfort. 

Do you have to spiral minimize it? Sure. 

Andouille Sausage

Once I turned to the uncooked sausages, issues went downhill rapidly. Fats wept from the slashed and spiraled andouille sausages, inflicting flare-ups on the grill. Worse, my makes an attempt to avoid wasting the spiral-cut sausage from soot weakened its structural integrity—each time I tonged it over to the cool facet of the grill, the coil grew to become slightly looser and extra fragile. Though the spiral held collectively in the long run, I got here shut sufficient to disaster that I don’t suggest it. Plus, each the slashed and spiral-cut variations misplaced a lot of their juiciness and chew. 

Do you have to spiral minimize it? No. Hold your andouille hyperlinks intact.  

Italian Sausage

The Italian sausage held up even worse to the slashing and spiral-cut therapies. Though each pierced sausages cooked a lot sooner than the intact hyperlink, they tasted as dry as a cornflake. 

Do you have to spiral minimize it? No. I don’t even suggest poking at it. 

Bratwurst

The outcomes for the bratwurst had been much less conclusive. The spiral-cut brat was as soon as once more noticeably much less juicy than the intact one, however not so dry that it was a dealbreaker. Nestled on a bun with some kraut and mustard gripped in its folds? I’d eat it with out criticism. The added size additionally eradicated any dry bites of brat-less bun. However to my shock, I had a slight desire for the slashed brat—it was virtually as moist because the intact hyperlink, however had a barely looser, much less dense texture. Plus, it cooked slightly sooner than the intact brat (although not as quick because the spiral-cut one), making it a smart middle-ground possibility.

Do you have to spiral minimize it? Normally, no. However you may have my blessing to slash it (so long as you’re cooking over low warmth).

The Verdict

So, will it spiral? With some cautious skewer and knife work, completely. However the true query is, ought to it spiral? 

For precooked sausages which have homogenous texture all through, sure. The additional floor space aids browning and provides skinless canine a snappier texture. However for many uncooked sausages, I don’t suggest chopping into them in any respect—except you’re particularly brief on time or cooking for a crowd that likes to play with their meals.