Ingredients

• 6 pork sausagesthick, with a high meat percentage
• 1 large onionthinly sliced
• 1 small baguettecrusty enough to take a glaze; avoid soft sandwich rolls
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp chilli sauce or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 20 g butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Caramelise the onions

   Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat with the sliced onion and a pinch of salt, and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until deep brown and jammy.

   20 g butter

2. 02

   Cook the sausages through first

   In a second pan, brown the sausages in the olive oil over medium heat for 12-15 minutes, turning regularly, until deeply coloured all over and cooked through to 75 C. Lift them out. Cooking them fully before any sugar arrives is the whole trick. Maple added early burns long before a thick sausage is done.

   6 pork sausages · 1 tsp olive oil

   Sausages first, sugar lastA thick sausage needs twelve to fifteen minutes. Maple in the pan from the start burns black.

   Pour off the fat firstOtherwise the glaze slides off the sausages instead of clinging.

3. 03

   Build the glaze in the sausage pan

   Pour off any excess fat, then add the maple syrup, the chilli sauce or flakes and the cider vinegar to the same pan over medium heat. Scrape the browned base as it bubbles and reduce for 1-2 minutes, until it thickly coats the back of a spoon. All the savoury flavour the sausages left behind goes into the glaze.

   2 tbsp maple syrup · 1 tsp cider vinegar

4. 04

   Coat

   Return the sausages to the pan over medium-low heat and roll them in the glaze for 30-60 seconds until they are lacquered and glossy all over. Keep the heat low here: the glaze is mostly maple and will catch and turn bitter in seconds over a high flame. Take the pan off the heat the moment the sausages look varnished.

5. 05

   Dress the bread

   Mix the mayonnaise with the 1 tsp Dijon. Split and lightly toast the baguette, cut side down in a dry pan for a minute, then spread with the mustard mayo.

   2 tbsp mayonnaise

   Toast the cut facesSealed with heat, the baguette holds a wet glaze. Untoasted it goes to paste.

6. 06

   Assemble

   Line the base with the caramelised onions, lay the sausages on top, scrape every last bit of glaze from the pan over them and finish with black pepper.