You're having WHAT sausage for Australia Day lunch?

YOU'LL never guess what sausage sells best at a top Aussie gourmet butcher. Hint: think lettuce and water chestnuts

Sausages

THE Australia Day barbie ain't what it used to be. Ten years ago we broke our jaws and insulted our tastebuds on leathery cuts of steak and snags that tasted like sawdust. Today, it's all about delicacies like the Sang Choy Bow snag.

Yes, Sang Choy Bow snags: sausages made out of the chopped-up ingredients that go in the popular Chinese dish served in lettuce leaves.

Sang Choy Bow sausages are the top selling item at Tender Value meats, the Sydney store run by innovative butcher Adam Stratton. He sells 500 kilos of the delectable little suckers in a busy week like this one. He even cuts up the water chestnuts by hand so they're not too mushy and recommends them to be served them in rolled-up lettuce.

Adam Stratton last appeared on this website in December in story we ran on the "turducken", which was a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey – all wrapped in bacon. Mmm... pig and poultry.

Stratton sold 1200 turduckens over Christmas, but that's a snowflake compared to the snagalanche in the week leading up to Australia Day.

"We are becoming a nation of foodies. We want the good stuff. Everyone's been watching food shows on TV and they want beautiful bold flavours."

We're not sure about the beautiful part, but there's no disputing Stratton's flavours are bold.

Apart from Sang Choy Bow snags, some of the big sellers this week have been Beef, Vegemite and Cheese (Adam swears it works), Beef and VB (speaks for itself) and wait for it, LAMBingtom and chocolate.

Whether or not you can stomach chocolate with your lamb snags, there's no doubt lamb sales go through the roof around Australia Day.

Stratton is a huge fan of the annual Sam Kekovich lamb campaign and says he has never seen a marketing campaign as effective.

"He has brainwashed everyone now to think Australia Day is about eating lamb. He has been a great ambassador and every butcher shop is now flat stick when it comes to Australia Day."

Do you prefer plain old beef sausages or are you a gourmet snag person? What's the best sausage in Australia Keep the conversation flowing and we'll moderate your comments until at least 5pm!

On a sweeter note

If the barbie is the unofficial foodie symbol of Australia Day, the pavlova surely can't be far behind. But if you're baking a pav this weekend, you might be in trouble.

If you're a passionfruit person, you'll be right. But if you prefer to top your pav with berries, you might like to think again.

According to The Fresh Produce Report, the extreme hot spell last week took a huge toll on strawberries and raspberries in Victoria, which is where most of our berries are sourced at this time of year.

You can still find good quality fruit, but expect to pay more. One hot tip is mango on your pav.

Got a better pav topping suggestion? We're all ears!