UPAN Sausage Pan

UPAN Sausage Pan

I was given a UPAN cast iron sausage pan as a gift. I am always keen to try new sausage cooking devices the UPAN has been tested with the following mixed results.

The first sausages I cooked using the pan were kolbaz from Park Avenue Quality Meats. These chunky snarlers fitted snuggly, or some may say tightly into the groves. I did need to turn the sausages and this was quite problematic. Tongs would not do the job, so I used two forks. It was a tricky manoeuvre. The kolbaz sausages are made from a natural casing and so a curl occurred as part of the cooking process. This curl negated the advantages of the UPAN, with some parts of the sausage being above the hot cast iron. I did not regard this sausage cooking experience as a success.

The next sausages I cooked where Pork and Fennel snarlers frm L’Authenque. This was much more successful. These smaller sausages were able to be cooked easily and the UPAN did its job really well. These sausages are little beauties and tasted fantastic. I thought I had reviewed these in the past, however I was wrong, a very positive review will be coming shortly.

Then I cooked some beef steak and onion sausages from Blue Mountain Butchery in Tapanui. I purchased these at the Dunedin Farmers’ Market. These sausages are longer than your average snarler, and so again they were just a tad too long for optimal cooking the UPAN.

I consider myself to be at the top end of sausage cookers. They are a regular part of my diet and the UPAN will become one of a range of pans I use to cook snarlers. My conclusion – the UPAN is a good idea. However, the size of the sausage needs to match and be appropriate for the size of the cast iron.  I used the UPAN on a gas stove and you need to let the cast iron heat though before starting the cooking process. I will definitely use the UPAN again, but only on smaller sausages that are not too fat or long for the UPAN.

Good old kiwi ingenuity is to the fore. Visit UPAN’s website see the various prototypes and progression as the concept is developed.