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Gus's Cookery Tips

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Gus's Cookery Tips

Not many of you will know that I am an extremely accomplished chef, having studied at the Mels School of dietary perfection for a number of years.

I will give you the lowdown on a culinary delight, one of my favourite recipes, a sausage sandwich.

These days there are many different types of sausage available, which enables a wide variety of sandwiches to be made.

The correct terminology for a sausage sandwich is a "hot dog" although actual dog meat is not actually used.

To make a hot dog, first butter two slices of bread, the fresher the better, take a couple of sausages, beef or pork would do nicely, and place on the grill.

Turn the grill on, about medium heat, and cook the sausages turning regularly in order to cook evenly on all sides.

When the sausages have been nicely browned, remove from the grill and with a sharp knife, slice the sausages down the centre. This will enable the half sausages to be placed (flat side down, to prevent rolling) onto one of the slices of bread.

The sausages can be garnished with, tomato sauce, mustard or cooked onions. In a future issue I will cover cooking onions, but for the moment, I will assume that ketchup or mustard will be the choice for garnish.

Finally, place the second slice of bread on top of the sausages and cut in half from corner to corner, this gives

a nice triangular shape to the finished article, cutting square is an acceptable, though less aesthetically pleasing alternative. Voila! ...... a hot dog.

Handy hint : For ease and speed, use tinned hot dog sausages which need only to be placed in hot water for about five minutes before use.

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My second cookery tip is one that I use over and over again, you will get plenty of use out of this one and plenty of plaudits too. I hope you have your microwaves plugged in ready for some red hot action. Now then, let's begin.

Many people complain about cold tea, I know the problem only too well, but recently I discovered some handy tips which help solve this problem, and I want to share them with you.

Always warm the pot with some boiling

water before putting the tea bags in, the pot should reach a temperature of at least 30 degrees, in an average teapot this would equate to a waiting time of about two minutes. It is possible to use tea leaves in lieu of tea bags, but personally I find them awfully fiddly.

Once you have reached this stage, you will need to re-boil the kettle (make sure you refill the kettle first) before adding the water. Leave for a minute or two to brew before pouring into individual cups, it is worth noting at this point that people who

prefer weak tea should allow slightly less time at this stage, while people who prefer it very strong should allow correspondingly longer.

If the tea isn't drunk quickly, a microwave oven can be used to boost its temperature.

Next issue, I'll discuss how to warm plates before serving a meal.

This is the real deal folks, before you know it you’ll be a chef too.