We Found The Most Insanely Gourmet Election Sausage In Australia

Everyone knows that the real question leading up to this Saturday’s election isn’t “Who am I going to vote for?” but “Where do I get the best damn election day sausage?”

Forget Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten and Richard Di Natale. The democracy sausage is what we deserve after putting up with eight weeks of election campaigning. Over here at Junkee we don’t think anything beats the humble, original sausage sandwich. Give us a bit of barbecued mystery meat between two bits of bread, some fried onion a bit of tomato sauce and mustard, perfection.

Across the inner city suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne there’s been a trend of fancy, uber-gourmet election barbecues popping up around election time. Think grilled eggplant and haloumi with honey soy tempeh. But this election we think we’ve found one democracy sausage offering that puts all the others to shame.

Meet Chrissy Flanagan of Chrissy’s Cuts, the self-declared #SausageQueen of Sydney’s inner west.

Chrissy is teaming up with the Australia Street Infants School in Newtown, in the electorate of Grayndler, to offer what are likely Australia’s fanciest election day sausages.

Newtown is really lifting the stakes when it comes to election day food via @ohhooboy pic.twitter.com/AWq0QFj6jj

— Osman Faruqi (@oz_f) June 27, 2016

Grayndler voters have been overwhelmed by Labor and Greens campaigners over the past few weeks. It’s the best chance the Greens have of winning a seat in NSW, though it will be a tough ask given their competition is well-known Labor MP Anthony Albanese.

When voters head to Australia St Infants School to cast their vote they will be facing a tougher choice than the one at the ballot box: to buy a regular sausage sandwich for $5, or to splash out $10 on a pork shoulder bratwurst with Charcroute mustard and dill, or a beef brisket and smuggled greens sausage with celeriac remoulade, watercress and craft ale mustard.

Flanagan told Junkee that she approached the Australia St Infants School because she “really wanted to do an election day barbecue. As a former political staffer, this is the peak collision of my interest in sausages and politics”.

She asked around on Facebook if anyone knew of schools looking for someone to run their election day barbecues and it turned out Australia St was super keen. According to Flanagan the school loved the idea because all profits go to the local P&C and it means parents get a sleep in on polling day.

The inspiration for the menu comes from the two sausages Chrissy’s Cuts offers: Pork shoulder bratwurst and beef brisket. But what the hell is a “smuggled green”?

“It’s cabbage and cauliflower dressed with pomegranate molasses and balsamic vinegar,” Flanagan said. So not a statement on the minor party’s political fortunes this Saturday then.

Flanagan is a former Labor staffer and a big fan of the local member, Anthony Albanese. In fact her home made mustard is made from seeds pre-soaked in Albo Ale, a local beer brewed by Willie the Boatman. Heads up to all the Greens voters in Newtown: Stick to the pork shoulder if you want to avoid accidentally ingesting Albo.

But if you don’t live in Sydney’s inner-west and are desperate to find out where to get your sausage fix this Saturday, don’t despair. There are a whole stack of websites dedicated to mapping out what’s on offer this polling day.

Snagvotes maps the location of “sausage sizzles, cake stalls, and other fundraising activities on election day”. Democracy Sausage offers the same service but also ranks each electorate by the quantity and quality of sausages on offer. For the first time Google is offering its own election map, complete with locations of sausage sizzles.

So we’re really all spoilt for choice. Thank god we under fund public schools so parents are forced to cook up hungry voters a feast once every three years.