BBQ Snags

The BBQ Snag (sausage) is the cornerstone of the Australian backyard barbecue culture. Every Australian home has a barbecue (often a simple hot plate or gas grill), and the most common thing to cook on it is the humble beef sausage — the 'snag.' Thick, coarse-ground, and cheap, the snag is grilled until the skin splits and chars, then served on a single slice of white bread (not a sausage roll, not a bun — a slice of bread), topped with grilled onions and tomato sauce. The 'sausage sizzle' (communal BBQ sausages at a fundraiser) is a national institution. This is the food of every Australian Saturday afternoon, every Australia Day, every family gathering.

A thick, charred, split-skinned beef sausage on a slice of soft white bread, tomato sauce squeezed on, soft sweet grilled onions leaking out the sides. Fold the bread, bite through. The sausage is juicy, smoky, savory; the bread is soft; the sauce is sweet. It is the most basic, most Australian, most perfect thing you can eat at a barbecue.

The sausages should be thick (not thin), coarse-ground beef, and cheap (the whole point is affordability). They are grilled over medium heat until the skin splits and chars — the splitting is expected, not a failure. The onions are cooked on the same plate, slowly, in the sausage fat. The bread is always cheap white (folded, not a roll). The sauce is always tomato (ketchup). The whole thing is eaten standing, in one hand, in under a minute.