3 All-Star Tips for Building Your Own Stadium-Style Sausage

Grilled sausages make a great sandwich, but fitting a curved link into a flat bun can be downright frustrating. Instead of searching for curved buns, use this solution. First, insert bamboo skewers (that have first been soaked in water) lengthwise into each sausage prior to grilling. The skewers keep the sausages from curling during cooking. When the sausages are done, pull out the skewers before fitting the straight links perfectly into their buns.

While it’s simple enough to toast hamburger or hot dog buns on a moderately hot grill, it can be dicey if you’re working over a blazing single-level fire, where they’re likely to char instantly. Using grill tongs, set a collapsible metal steamer basket on the cooking grate and place the buns on top; there, they’re just far enough above the fire to toast, not burn. (Grill tongs are a must for removing the steamer basket.) The basket also works well for keeping fixings (such as grilled onions) warm.

To make easy work of slicing or mincing onions for your sausage toppings, trim the top of the onion and halve it pole to pole. Then carefully peel the outer layers from each half down to—but not all the way off—the root end. Then, when you have diced or sliced most of the onion, hold on to the outer layers to stabilize the root end as you finish cutting.

Like these? See more quick tips at Cook's Illustrated.