Smoked sausage

Some smoked sausages are cooked during smoking and can be eaten cold; others are raw or only partly cooked. Follow the cooking instructions on the pack, and heat raw sausage until the centre reaches 70 °C for two minutes.

For even cooking, simmer whole sausages gently in water for about 10 minutes rather than boiling them hard. To brown them, pat dry and fry over a medium heat, turning often; they are ready when piping hot throughout.

Keep it chilled and follow the use-by date and storage instructions once opened. Discard it if it has an unusual sour smell, a sticky surface or mould that is not part of the product; do not taste it to check.

Slice it into lentil or bean stew, fry it with potatoes and onions, or add it to cabbage soup. For a quick meal, brown slices in a pan and serve with mashed potato and mustard.

Usually, yes, if it is a natural casing or an edible collagen casing. Some sausages have a tough or plastic-like outer wrapper that must be peeled off; the packaging should say whether the casing is edible.

Smoked sausage is a broad term: it may be cooked, cured or partly cooked, and its texture ranges from soft to firm. Smoked salami is typically fermented and dried, and is richer in energy and fat: it has 430 kcal and 41.2 g fat per 100 g, compared with 336 kcal and 30 g in smoked sausage.

Yes. Wrap it tightly or seal it in a freezer bag, and freeze it before its use-by date. Defrost it in the fridge and use it promptly; avoid refreezing it once thawed.

It is often salty, so use a small amount to flavour a dish rather than adding extra salt at the start. A 100 g portion contains 755 mg sodium.