# Are sausage sizzles popular outside Australia & New Zealand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2016, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846 "2016-03-13T07:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/61 "2016-03-14T00:44:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **GreedySmurf** : > > While we are aware of what American’s mean when they say Barbecue… Really? Because we aren’t. There are at least half a dozen One True Meanings for barbecue, and at least that many more bastardizations. And a tailgate differs from a sizzle in that a proper tailgate is just a bunch of friends, not anything for sale (though they might give a brat away to a passerby, if you catch them in a good mood). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/62 "2016-03-14T01:15:14Z")
Yeah I have never heard of paying for food or libations at a tailgate. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/63 "2016-03-14T02:10:29Z")
Oh, how I miss sausage sizzles! It seems to me that sausages are much more expensive in the US, so don’t have the same niche in people’s budgets. Also not so good to fundraise with, as overheads would be higher. Are US sausages just marked up more? My experiences with “breakfast links” are fairly awful, with yucky seasonings like maple and loads of sage. This is the ingredient list for Coles (Aust supermarket chain) Classic Pork Sausages: Pork Sow Stall Free (76%), Water, Potato Starch, Sea Salt, Mineral Salt (451), Dextrose (Tapioca, Maize), Preservative (223), Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Garlic), Herb & Spices, Flavours, Mustard Flour, Natural Colouring (Fermented Red Rice), Canola Oil, Fruit Oil, Antioxidant (306) THAT SOUNDS AMAZING. Mmm, cheap sausages… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/64 "2016-03-14T02:26:21Z")
I don’t know what the Aussie prices are, but I’d expect a grilled sausage to be somewhere around $3-$4 at like a church fair or whatnot. (Oh, I see the OP mentions $2-$2.50, but another $2 for the drink, which seems about a buck too high for me.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/65 "2016-03-14T02:33:55Z")
Missed edit window, but I was talking USDs. $2.50 apparently is closer to $2 USD, which would be rather on the cheap side of things for a sausage. It’d still be profitable, but most people, I’d think, wouldn’t blink an eye at a price of $3 USD. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/66 "2016-03-14T02:39:10Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Oh, how I miss sausage sizzles! It seems to me that sausages are much more expensive in the US, so don’t have the same niche in people’s budgets. Also not so good to fundraise with, as overheads would be higher. > > Are US sausages just marked up more? not really, as far as I know. to me, the “sausage sizzles” **Martini Enfield** is talking about are basically cookouts where the primary offering is breaded sausage. we do the same thing but sausage isn’t the primary player, BBQ chicken and pork are usually also offered. with cookouts which focus on one primary dish, it’s usually a Catholic church putting on a fish fry on fridays during Lent. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/67 "2016-03-14T03:14:48Z")
Nothing to add about the prevalence of sausage sizzles outside Australia and New Zealand, but they are absolutely ubiquitous here. And not just at hardware stores; [we get sausage sizzles when we go to vote](http://democracysausage.org/). They’re fundraisers for the school or community organisation whose premises are being used as a polling station. Is this a possible solution to the famously low participation rates in US elections? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/68 "2016-03-14T03:23:50Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Nothing to add about the prevalence of sausage sizzles outside Australia and New Zealand, but they are absolutely ubiquitous here. > > And not just at hardware stores; [we get sausage sizzles when we go to vote](http://democracysausage.org/). They’re fundraisers for the school or community organisation whose premises are being used as a polling station. > > Is this a possible solution to the famously low participation rates in US elections? 😉 So instead of a “chicken in every pot”, it’s to be a “sausage in every hand.”? That sounds _so_ wrong. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/69 "2016-03-14T03:29:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Missed edit window, but I was talking USDs. $2.50 apparently is closer to $2 USD, which would be rather on the cheap side of things for a sausage. It’d still be profitable, but most people, I’d think, wouldn’t blink an eye at a price of $3 USD. The sausages served at a sausage sizzle are the cheapest you can buy. Plus, they’re bought in bulk. Plus, since they are going to a community organisation for a fundraiser, the supermarket can usually be persuaded to knock a few more cents off the price. They’re fundamentally a rusk-based vehicle for animal fat and salt. The meat content of the sausage will be beef, but you won’t be able to tell that by taste. Most of the actual taste is provided by the sugar-rich sauce, which may be either runny tomato ketchup or a sort of mild mustard having the colour and consistency of newborn’s puke or, if the sizzle is _really_ sophisticated, barbecue sauce, and by the fried onions. Fat, salt and sugar; what’s not to like? They are delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/70 "2016-03-14T03:29:43Z")
We don’t use the term “sausage sizzle”, but as a fund-raising event outside the Sobeys (grocery store) or Canadian Tire (general hardware and auto supply)? Sure! Most Saturdays in the summer, there’s a team outside the Sobey’s or Canadian Tire. Sometimes pedestrian hot dogs, but sometimes brats or kohlbasa. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/71 "2016-03-14T09:04:32Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Sorry **Acsenray** , but in Oz ‘barbecued’ meat is indeed just grilled meat (on an outdoor grill). While we are aware of what American’s mean when they say Barbecue and in the last ten or so years there has been a proliferation of American style restaurants serving barbecue, if your average Aussie invites you to a barby (barbecue) there will be grilled meat cooked outdoors, on a barby. (somewhat confusing to a non-native I suppose) Precisely. The “barbeque” aspect of it refers to the device upon which said meats are cooked. We are aware of the American-Style Barbeque restaurant with its smokey BBQ sauce goodness, and South American Barbeque places have also started popping up in places with more progressive foodie scenes too. But if you say to an Australian “barbeque sausage” without any context, they’re going to be thinking of something either like a sausage sizzle snag or perhaps something a bit fancier cooked on a barbeque in someone’s backyard. And yes, snags are generic sausages, usually from the supermarket or local butcher. Perfectly edible, nothing fancy, and of questionable nutritional value. 🙂 > [@NDP](#): > > I was going to mention this in my earlier post but that sounds not too far removed from the American tradition of [tailgating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailgate_party). Hot dogs (i.e., grilled sausages served in bread) are a big part of tailgating as are hamburgers, BBQ pork, and various foods that are popular in specific regions of the US (e.g., at tailgates–or boatgates–in Seattle, you can often find grilled salmon). Has tailgating spread to Australia because it seems like a natural extension of sausage sizzles? I’ve never encountered it at any of the countless community sports events I’ve attended as a journalist. There’s usually a sausage sizzle inside the event, and also usually a canteen selling hot (meat) pies, sausage rolls, hot chips and so forth, and if the club is _really_ organised they’ll have a liquor licence sorted so they can flog booze to the grown-ups. Hanging around in the carpark having a fry-up Just Isn’t Done here for a variety of reasons, including the fact Australia is notoriously inflammable - despite our love of a good barbeque, there’s a lot of regulations around where you can have them. Also, the action is inside the grounds - even if you’re not watching the game, there’s still plenty of people to talk to and so on in there. The carpark is where you put your car, not hang around having a yarn with your mates. Additionally, it’d be more trouble than it’s worth, when for less than a fiver, you can have a cooked sausage, bread, onions and a can of soft drink - with the money going to help the club out. There’s also not necessarily anywhere to hold a tailgate party even if one and one’s chums were so inclined. Brisbane’s major sportsball stadium, [Lang Park (AKA SunCorp Stadium)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Park), has no general carparking. Unless you’re disabled, if you want to go to something there, you’re getting the train or the bus or getting someone to drop you off. Even the next biggest stadium, [The Gabba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gabba), has very little carparking. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/72 "2016-03-14T10:53:54Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I’m trying to understand what kind of sausage this compares to in the US. We have two basic styles of sandwich sausages here. There are hot dogs (aka wieners, weenies, frankfurters franks, etc.) which are pre-cooked, and only need to be reheated by steaming, grilling or boiling. They can be be consumed unheated. Then there are raw sausages like Italian sausage and bratwurst which are fresh, raw pork or beef in a casing, which requires cooking. Which is most like the sausage in a sausage sizzle? If you scroll down on this page, you will find something called “Wee Willie Winkies”, which were always my sausage of choice for sausage sizzles. Others would try and use the sausages at the top of the page, but they would often break in two and fall off the stick. [http://www.hallsofscotland.co.uk/#about](http://www.hallsofscotland.co.uk/#about) In any case, raw sausages which required cooking. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/73 "2016-03-14T12:22:04Z")
OK, I found this. Lots of [pictures of a sausage sizzle](http://www.buzzfeed.com/caitlinjinks/sausage-sizzle-life#.cxo3VBDaj). I don’t think we in the States have an equivalent cheap raw sausage. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/74 "2016-03-14T12:32:08Z")
Australia will be facing a federal election some time soon, which means that most schools will be polling places. The schools will nearly all have sausage sizzles run by the parents group and, for lovers of traditional baking, usually a cake stall. Its a big fund-raising day for many of them - voting is compulsory [well, turning up and having your name marked off is] and on a Saturday. A friend working for a candidate watched him buy and eat a sausage at each polling place in the electorate - maybe a dozen across the afternoon, plus lamingtons and fizzy drink. They all came up violently in the carpark of the last school, but that very act allegedly won him enough additional admirers to win the seat. You could learn a lot from how Australia runs a democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/75 "2016-03-14T13:00:38Z")
I’m learning more by the hour. Here is a [blind taste test of Australian sausages](http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/top-10-cook/in-search-of-australias-best-supermarket-sausage-2016-20160218-gmur97.html), and the ones that were compared to the cheap sausages found at a charity sizzle or outside a hardware store were house brand sausages from Aldi’s at $2.78/lb US. It sounds like a cheap hot dog before the manufacturer cooks it. I don’t know if any are sold that way here. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/76 "2016-03-14T13:05:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Just to make it clear for any Aussies and other posters, antipodean or not, the usage is pretty broad in the US as well. When I am in foodie nitpick mode, argumentum ad populum does not sway me. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/77 "2016-03-14T13:22:50Z")
Problem with selling street food in the UK is that your servers need food hygiene training, and the stall holder needs to be registered with the Local Environmental Health office. Kind of puts off the casual do-gooding Brownie. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/78 "2016-03-14T13:55:50Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > OK, I found this. Lots of [pictures of a sausage sizzle](http://www.buzzfeed.com/caitlinjinks/sausage-sizzle-life#.cxo3VBDaj). I don’t think we in the States have an equivalent cheap raw sausage. looks pretty similar to the fresh bratwurst you can get in a large pack at Costco. and I know it’s Buzzfeed, but goddamn does that headline piss me off. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/79 "2016-03-14T14:01:46Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I don’t think we in the States have an equivalent cheap raw sausage. I checked out some of the links (heh) to Australian sausage descriptions…seems like they use a lot of filler. Do they tend to explode during cooking unless watched carefully? “Bangers?” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846/80 "2016-03-14T14:07:48Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > looks pretty similar to the fresh bratwurst you can get in a large pack at Costco. Not for $2.69/lb US. The Australian variety is obviously a cheaper recipe with more fillers like US hot dogs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sausage-sizzles-popular-outside-australia-new-zealand/748846.md?page=5)