My search for the ‘perfect sausage’: Nikki Osborne

Australia has perfected a lot of great meals but sadly this isn’t one of them.

Nikki Osborne is on the search for the perfect sausage.

We all have that one culinary moment that stays in our mind. The animated movie Ratatouille captured it so beautifully … that near final scene when the grumpy food critic tastes the meal, which triggers an emotion in a beautifully crafted flashback to his childhood. And so it is for me, except for all my searching I haven’t yet been able to re-create that flashback to what I believe to be … the perfect sausage!

It is nearly 20 years ago that I had this amazing culinary experience, and little did I know that it would never be surpassed. I was in my early 20s and on my first trip to Europe as an adult with my now husband. We were staying in Copenhagen and set off to explore the city and ended up at the Tivoli Gardens.

I had the perfect level of hungriness when we stumbled across a kiosk selling these bizarre-looking long sausages served in a hollowed-out, half baguette. Each bite snapped in my mouth like biting through toffee on a toffee apple.

Authentic German sausage.

Initially I was embarrassed at the size of the sausage. Only half of it fitted in the half baguette and the rest arched out at my face. Never did I think I’d be relishing sitting on a park bench in front of foreign families gobbling a giant sausage!

On the flight home I read an article in the Qantas magazine about the best restaurants and cafes around the world. Michelin-starred restaurants in France, Nobu etc, … then there it was, a photo of that little kiosk in Copenhagen. Someone else has clearly had the same “snappy” sausage awakening. So simple.

And thus began my near 20-year quest to have my Ratatouille moment, to find the perfect “snappy” sausage!

My quest has become quite the talking point within my family. My husband now leverages his preference for family holidays to Europe on the scant hope that we might stumble upon the holy grail of sausages. He’ll never get me to Copenhagen again – too chilly for this Queenslander – surely somewhere closer to the heat of the Mediterranean has managed to replicate this sausage gold?!

A couple of years ago we took our kids on a road trip through Europe where I became the “sausage Goldilocks”. In England, its bangers and mash, though tasty, didn’t have that signature “snap” – too soft! In France, I didn’t see anything that floated my boat. By the time we drove into northern Italy I was starting to lose hope, Italy has amazing salami sausages, but they’re too hard!

Nikki Osborne. Picture: Peter Wallis

Then I had a brainwave. Surely Switzerland’s proximity to those German sausage maestros would bring my sausage quest to its “snappy” conclusion?

We found an alpine restaurant in Ticino and although the food was lovely, alas, there was no German sausage.

Undeterred my quest continues. My family recently treated me to a Mother’s Day lunch at a great German-themed restaurant on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. I, of course, ordered the sausage platter, the Bratwurst was delicious as was the Kransky but still nothing quite had that mythical snap.

My next attempt will have to be the German sausage van that teases me every time I drive past the Fishermans Road Sunday market in Maroochydore on the way to my parents’ house. I’m usually too tired or late to pull in – early morning breakfast radio will do that to you.

So is there such a thing as the perfect sausage? Where have you found yours?