In his quest for the perfect sausage and mash he made the sausages and then poached them for 30 minutes and dried them before frying them at the last minute to get the outsides brown and crispy, etc. Has anone else ever done this as I have never thought of doing that before and now it seems so obvious as the insides will have been cokked to perfection and as long as the skin hasn't broken then you can fry the sausages to your exact liking on the outside knowing full well that whatever the outside looks like it will be perfectly cooked on the inside.
We go to a lovely Old Mill restaurant in our home village and sometimes we go to special functions there where we have a buffet comprising salads bubble and squeak cold meats etc,but the best part is the hot sausages that are always boiled first before frying,as you say it makes sense to pre cook that way first and I always do now.
To supplement your surprise osprey, I only recently found this out and it now does seem intuitive! See the link below to the UK's only "Sausage Club" and it's recommendations on cooking!