A pit stop at the sausage sizzle out the front of Bunnings has always been a drawcard when visiting the chain hardware store. However, one regular Bunnings shopper aired a growing frustration he has encountered when picking up the classic Aussie snack — and hundreds chimed in to agree.
Complaint About Onion Quality
'I love a sausage sizzle. I think it's one of this country's greatest traditions,' began a post shared to an online discussion forum. The Aussie bloke continued: 'Raising money for local community groups while getting to have a sausage in bread is a win-win in my books.' But it was at this point that the man unleashed a complaint he had long tried to ignore about the sacred Bunnings sausage sizzle experience. 'However, I am consistently disappointed by the caramelised onions of late. It's always pale and flavourless and often a bit crunchy,' he complained. He jokingly suggested: 'I think we need mandatory government-funded caramelised onion classes for anyone planning to do a public sausage sizzle.'
Frozen Onions Blamed
Although the online post was light-hearted and jocular in nature, it struck a chord among fellow Australians. Many agreed that the problem came down to one factor: the use of frozen onions. 'A lot of the time, it's because whoever is running the BBQ just buys massive bags of frozen pre-chopped onions,' one person explained. 'Instead of the nice, almost burnt-on-a-hot-plate variety, you get the defrosted and steamed kind.' 'It's simply that they're not given enough time to cook properly — especially from frozen,' agreed another. 'To do it right, it's like a full hour, plus,' one person chimed in.
Perfect Onion Technique
Another opined: 'The perfect sausage onion is left in a pile on the hotplate and not fussed with. Gotta run the full spectrum from "basically raw" to "basically carbon" and get a blend of that on your snag.' Even someone who had worked on the other side of the BBQ admitted they encountered the 'issue when we did our Bunnings sizzle'. 'We froze the onions and the water that came from cooking made them go pale and lifeless, and no amount of burning would bring them back.' Another agreed: 'It's become common for sporting and community groups to buy pre-cut frozen onions from the supermarket for fundraising sausage sizzles. It's easier than cutting them yourself, but the results are not as good.'
Lowered Expectations
However, some Bunnings regulars felt people were expecting far too much from the humble charity-run sausage sizzle stand. 'It's a rare sausage sizzle that does anything other than flash-charring everything — crunchy sangers and crunchy onions, on square supermarket white bread with a slathering of tomato sauce.' 'It's because cooking onions correctly actually takes a fair amount of skill, and most people running the charity sizzle don't have that. They're just doing their bit and helping out for a good cause. So just enjoy the onions you get,' another added. 'I don't expect a sausage sizzle to give proper caramelised onions, but I think decently cooked ones are a fair ask.' 'You'll never get actual caramelised onions on a BBQ… You're getting BBQed onions that are hopefully a little al dente and also a little crispy and brown at the edges.'
Caramelised vs Fried Onions
Several commenters also pointed out 'there's a big difference between normal cooked onion and caramelised onions' — with the latter requiring the addition of extra sweet seasoning, such as some form of sugar or even Worcestershire sauce. 'Fried onions are what you normally get on a BBQ. Sure, you get a tiny amount of caramelisation from the residual sugar in the onion, but proper caramelised onions require additional sugar, either from adding a sauce or something like brown sugar, and generally a long, slow cooking time,' explained one thoughtful reply. 'A typical sausage sizzle has too high a turnover to provide caramelised onions. It takes a long time to caramelise onions... I don't believe I've ever seen the suggestion that sausage sizzles should do caramelised onion.'
However, there was one thing about the Bunnings sausage sizzle onions that everyone agreed on: 'The only thing worse is them not having any onions.'
