It’s a sausage. No, it’s a burger.

It's both. Let's not overthink it.

There’s something nicely unbuttoned about a sausage burger. It’s a bit free and easy, raising a finger to any locked-in ideas we may have about what burgers should be, and what sausages should be.

So, basically, the sausage is the burger and the burger is the sausage. Instead of mucking around trying to get the fat-to-lean-to-flavour ratio right with minced meat, garlic, herbs and spices, you just get your hands on some great pork sausages, skin them, and form them into burger patties.

I’m doing this more and more these days because it’s not always easy to get to a great butcher and source some beautifully, coarsely, freshly ground meat. A lot of minced meat is too finely ground, and a bit… gloopy. This solves all such issues, because good pork sausages are coarse and bumpy, and have the fat-to-lean ratio and seasoning already sorted.

The only thing you might want to do is lighten the meat a bit, which is easily done with some milk-soaked bread or a spoonful of ricotta, squished through the meat in your hands before forming it into patties.

I’ve used English muffins here, split and toasted for that little edgy bit of crispness, with some rocket leaves and an easy tomato sauce. Another version seen below is with iceberg lettuce, fresh tomato, red onion and an easy herb mayo. Pickles wouldn’t go astray either. Pickles never go astray.

SAUSAGE BURGER

• 2 hearty pork sausages

• 2 English muffins, split

• 2 slices cheese, if cheese-burgering

• Iceberg lettuce, shredded, or rocket leaves

• 2 slices of a large tomato

• A few fine slices of red onion (not shown in pic)

• Butter for spreading

Tomato Sauce

• 400 g canned tomatoes, chopped (I upgrade myself to Mutti cherry tomatoes)

• 2 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• Half tsp dried oregano

• half tsp sea salt, 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

To make the sauce, combine canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano, olive oil, sea salt and sugar, and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes until thickened.

Stay at the stove and reduce the sauce even further until quite thick, stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Set aside to cool.

Skin each sausage, and with wet hands, form the meat into a burger patty.

Brush with olive oil and fry over medium heat until nicely browned on each side; it won’t take long. If you’re cheese-burgering, add the slice of cheese on top as soon as you have turned the patty, and it will melt in the residual heat.

Toast and butter the buns.

Start to build: lettuce or rocket first. Tomato. Red onion. Burger (with or without cheese). Now plop the tomato sauce on top, top with the remaining muffin half, and gently press down. Serve. Makes two.

It’s also really lovely with a fresh little herb mayo (or yoghurt-based tzatziki) in place of the tomato sugo. Build in capers, jalapeno chillies, chopped green olives, etc.

Fresh Little Herb Mayo

• 3 tbsp egg-based mayonnaise or aioli

• 1 tbsp Greek-style yoghurt

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp lemon zest

• 1 tbsp fat capers, rinsed

• 1 tbsp chopped mint

• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

• 1 tbsp chopped dill

• Sea salt

Whisk the lemon zest and juice with the mayo, capers, mint, parsley and dill, and add sea salt to taste. Set aside until needed.

Dollop on top of the freshly cooked burger patty, or spread liberally on the inside of the muffin top and squish down.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for bringing home the sausages when I didn’t feel like sausages, which made me turn them into burgers which I did feel like.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.