No flames and no forks, according to industry experts at the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC).

“Don’t burn them, too many people tend to put sausages on the barbecue, flames are going everywhere, butchers hate that,” said Steve Fleming, judge of Thursday’s Sausage King and Best Butchers Burger competition in West Wollongong.

Pricking it with a fork is another dire offence as it kills the flavour.

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“The minute the sausage splits you’re cooking it too hot or the butcher hasn’t made it correctly, but most of the time it’s you’re cooking it too hot,” Mr Fleming said.

“That’s what the casing is all about, keeping the flavour in there and not to have it split open and have the flavour everywhere else.”

Butchers from the Illawarra and the Southern Highlands plated up some of their best gourmet sausages and burgers in front of AMIC judges in the hope of making it to the state final in Tamworth on September 23.

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From there winners will be invited to national competition in Melbourne next February with the hope of being crowned the Sausage King.

Six categories of sausages were be up for judging; Traditional Australian Beef; Traditional Australian Pork; Poultry; Australian Lamb/Open Class; Continental and Gourmet/Open Class and two categories of burger; Best Beef Burger and Best Gourmet Burger.

WINNERS:

Hastie's Toptaste Meats, Wollongong

Purebred Meats, Thirroul

Hot Canary Gourmet Meats, Bowral

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