I used to start sausages in water. Not anymore. When pan
cooking/frying I lay them in the pan and cook at low heat. Sometimes I
cover and sometimes I don't: However when talking about fresh sausage
I usually cover. I also add a little drizzle of cooking oil to the
bottom of pan before placing sausage in. They will brown nicely on low
heat. Note when I say low heat I do not use the lowest setting; rather
I'm up to about #3 on an electric stove top; which is about 30% of the
high. You can if you like prick the sausages with a fork to allow
escapade of fat but I don't because I do like the fat in there. Most
of it anyway.