On any weekend, if you go to the local DIY store like Bunnings (our version of Lowe’s/Home Depot/B & Q), you will almost certainly smell hot sausages and onions in the parking lot as you enter the store. It’s called a “sausage sizzle” and for a couple of bucks, you get a slice of squishy white bread, an average sausage with sauteed onions and a squirt of ketchup or bbq sauce. There is nothing about it that is sophisticated but it is a tasty and cheap snack that is loved here. I don’t know why but I had always imagined an Australian BBQ to be pretty exciting and I think the marketing team at Outback Steakhouse (a completely American company) made me think that there was something different, or better about an Aussie BBQ.
Last weekend, we decided to volunteer planting trees at a nearby park for National Tree Day. Imagine my excitement that there was going to be a free BBQ as well! Even the wet, cold weather didn’t deter us from planting some trees and having some BBQ. When we arrived, I noticed that “BBQ” on offer was the sausage sizzle which my husband likes with but I do not really enjoy. The main reason for my disdain is the taste of the sausages. If you go to any supermarket and buy plain sausages, they usually contain some type of lamb or mutton along with pork or beef. This is not something I am used to at all. You’d never find lamb in a generic sausage back home unless it was labeled specifically as lamb sausage. I am not a fan of strong flavored meats and can instantly taste it if there is lamb or mutton in the sausage (I have to be in the mood for lamb).
The choices that day were either burnt vegetarian patties or sausages on white bread and a can of soda. I think I was really hungry because I devoured two sausages with all the grease and didn’t complain at all even when I was spitting out the gristle between mouthfuls. I was actually happier about the free soda since they cost about $2.50 for a 12 oz / 330 ml can here. I know, I know, I really shouldn’t complain because it was free but my point is that it wouldn’t have mattered where it was being served…it would’ve been pretty identical anywhere else, free or otherwise.
Today, I was walking through the University of Adelaide and it happens to be “welcome back from winter break” week for students and sure enough, there was the familiar smell of the sausage sizzle and a long line to eat the ubiquitous Aussie sausage in white bread for lunch.
What is my point? I just wanted to show people outside of Oz what a generic sausage sizzle looks like. It is a common thing to go to any average BBQ and have various meats and sausages grilling and a couple of loaves of squidgy white bread to use as buns. I wonder why the hot dog bun never caught on here? For me, I find the sausage in white bread very unexciting but when very hungry, it does the job. Don’t get me wrong and don’t send me hate mail…I still LOVE living here and so many things about Australia but I still think that we do a better average BBQ in the States.
I think the hot dog bun caught on Michelle. In fact my friends and family usually have buns when we have bbq’s. Usually it’s only the freebies, or if we run out of buns that we use bread.
A sausage sizzle is different from a bbq. Well in my opinion. With a sausage sizzle you know that its that and only that, a sausage, maybe some onions, sauce and a bun. A bbq has the possibility of salads, not just sausages but steak, patties, chicken breast, whatever takes your fancy, a few beers or wine, and it’s usually in the park or at someone’s place. A sausage sizzle is usually only for charities or clubs, or a last minute meal idea. I think to aussies they are distinctly different. 🙂
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Hi Azumarisan, thanks for the comment! I saw hot dog buns for sale at my local super recently but all the BBQ’s that I’ve been to (at friend’s houses) have only had white bread. That’s cool that you guys you buns 😉 Yes you are right that a sausage sizzle is different from a BBQ.
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It is a sausage sandwich, dont know where sizzle came from. A sandwich is something made from bread and the above has a sausage in it. It is therefore a sausage sandwich, it was invented in Britain.
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Satish, the sizzle comes from the sausages “sizzling” on the BBQ…and I think that the sausage “sandwich” could have been “invented” in more places than in Britain. It is still called a sausage sizzle here in Australia.
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Hi, wondering if I would have your permission to use your photo of a sausage sizzle for a competition Im entering, and how I go about getting proof of. Just need the one photo of sausage in bread with onions. Great photo!Thanks look forward to hearing from you.Shirly
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Can I ask, what kind of competition are you entering?
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Yeah, I used to totally agree with you about Aussie sausages… until I moved to America, an now I miss them! Lol!
By the way, they use bread because you can buy a whole loaf (with 20+ ‘servings’) for the same or less than a bag of hot dog buns (with 6 ‘servings’). This matters at a fund raiser, obviously.
I notice this post is from last year some time. I came across it as I searched for a good link to let my American friends know what a sausage sizzle is – well done on the totally excellent description!
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[…] from a US expat living in Sydney talking about how hard it is to like the local sausage sizzle! (A Typical Aussie Sausage Sizzle). It shows you how hard adopting local food as an expat can be for […]
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[…] nicked and edited this sausage sizzle snap from Desperately Seeking Crab, I hope they don’t mind! Go visit their […]
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Having lived in Texas for 6 years, southern BBQ is nothing like Aussie BBQ anyway. In style, let alone taste. I have eaten some beautiful meat in the U.S. but you can’t compare a proper Aussie BBQ with a sausage sizzle.
My late father could do things with char grilled meat that would make your toes curl. I don’t know which way he went when he passed but they got a magnificent BBQ cook.
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