From the vibrantly spiced thin, red merguez to the coarse, garlicky bierwurst,
the sausage takes on the history and resources of its surroundings. My
father grew up in South Africa, so we used to go there for holidays, and I
often find myself hankering after a boerewors, the spicy South African
sausage flavoured with coriander. And 20 years of French cuisine have left
me with a passion for that cured, rustic, intensely flavoured homage to the
charcutier’s art: the toulouse sausage. If variety is the spice of life,
then sausages must be one of life’s true pleasures.
So, how to create the perfect sausage? My team and I weighed up the merits of
different casings; of hand-mincing versus machine-mincing; of fresh meat
versus aged; of packing methods; of types and amounts of filler, spicings,
seasonings and flavourings. I found that by using pork leg, I was able to
boost juiciness, because the muscle structure retains moisture better than
other parts of the animal. And golden syrup adds a colour and sweetness that
balances the spices really well and helps to develop those all-important
browning flavours. However, the key to sausage success is keeping the meat
cold as you prepare it.
Before you start
If you don’t want to wrestle with hog casings and a stuffer, you can still
prepare the sausage meat and form it into patties or skinless sausages. Roll
the meat in clingfilm and form into a tight sausage shape, then leave in the
fridge to firm up.
You don’t even have to smoke the back fat: the sausages will still taste
great, especially if fried in smoked oil. But I say get out the barbie and
get hold of some casings — go the whole hog! That campfire note also took
the mash in a particular direction. A wood fire and a baked potato go
together so well, that, in the end, these bangers need a mash with the
flavours and fluffiness of a baked potato. So that’s what you’ve got here.
With practice, making sausages becomes straightforward, and they can be
stored in the freezer for three months, so you can prepare them in advance,
leaving plenty of time on the day to make the gravy. The mash, meanwhile, is
simplicity itself: just put the potatoes in the oven and forget about them
for an hour or so.
Serves 4
Special equipment
Oak chips (about 500g; www.thebbq.co.uk)
and barbecue to flavour the pork fat,
charcoal,
firelighters,
safety or barbecue gloves,
large tongs,
food processor,
digital probe,
sausage stuffer (you’ll need this to make proper bangers, but not for skinless
sausages. www.sausagemaking.co.uk),
pressure cooker
stick blender
For the sausages
This is also used to make the base of the gravy. If you’re not making gravy,
halve all the quantities (except the casings). It’s best to grind all the
spices yourself, just before using.
1 x 800g loaf of medium-sliced white bread
500g pork back fat (single piece, rind removed)
50g rusk
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground mace
½ tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp golden syrup
1kg minced pork (preferably thigh), chilled
2 tsp table salt
2.5m of hog casings (32mm–45mm in diameter)
Groundnut oil, for frying
Making and cooking the sausages
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Leave the oak chips to soak in a
bucket of water. Light the barbecue and leave for 20–30 minutes, until the
coals are white-flecked with glowing red spots.
2. Meanwhile, lay 16 slices of bread on baking sheets. Place them in the oven
and leave for 30–40 minutes, until the bread is an even dark brown colour
throughout. Break up the bread and put it into a large bowl. Fill the bowl
with cold water and set aside for at least 1 hour.
3. Drain the oak chips and throw them on the barbecue. Once they begin to
smoke, place the back fat in the centre of the grill and barbecue until it
is blistered and charred and giving off that flame-cooked sausage smell.
(The fat will catch fire: that’s what reinforces the charred, smoked
flavour. It’s dramatic and needs to be handled with care. Wear safety gloves
and use a large pair of tongs.)
4. Remove the fat from the barbecue, allow to cool, then chill in the fridge.
Once chilled, cut into small cubes and blitz, in 2–3 batches, in a food
processor, until smooth and paste- like. It will have an ashen-grey
appearance. Scrape into a bowl and set aside (not in the fridge). Wash the
food processor blade and mixing bowl, ready for the next step.
5. Tip the rusk into the clean food-processor mixing bowl, and blitz until it
is as fine as possible. Pass through a fine sieve into a large measuring
jug. (The rusk should now resemble fine flour.) Rinse the blade and bowl of
the food processor and place them in the freezer to chill.
6. Pass the spices through a fine sieve into the measuring jug containing the
rusk. Add the golden syrup. Drain the soaked oven-baked bread pieces into a
colander set over a bowl, then squeeze the bread to extract as much water as
possible. Pour 400ml of the toast- flavoured water into the jug containing
the spice mix, stir and place in the fridge to chill.
7. Remove the food-processor bowl and blade from the freezer. Put batches of
the chilled pork and salt in the food processor, and blitz until smooth and
paste-like. Blitz no more than 200g of meat at a time, to prevent it
overheating. Use a digital probe to check the temperature of the meat every
30 seconds or so, to make sure it doesn’t exceed 10C/ 50F. If it is in
danger of doing so, put the meat, bowl and blade in the freezer until it
cools down. Once all the pork is ready, put the meat, bowl and blade in the
freezer again.
8. Once the pork has chilled down to near- freezing, add the fat, the chilled
spice mix and 1 slice of white bread. Blitz in the processor until the bread
has broken down and the mix is a smooth emulsion. (Again, this needs to be
done in small batches to keep the temperature below 10C/50F.) Scrape this
mix into a large bowl, cover and store in the fridge while preparing the
casings.
9. Untangle the casings (if using), put them in a bowl and soak in warm water
for a few minutes. Flush the salt out of the interior by holding the casings
up to the tap and letting warm water flow through. (The water usually
collects in the form of a bubble at the top of the casing, which can then be
eased down with finger and thumb.) Leave the casings to soak in a bowl of
warm water for about 15 minutes, until soft and pliable. (If they are not
soaked for long enough, they may burst during stuffing.)
10. Set aside 400g of the sausage mix for the gravy. Scrape the rest into the
barrel of the sausage stuffer, packing it as firmly as possible and knocking
out air pockets as you go. Push the casing onto the nozzle of the stuffer so
that it bunches up, concertina-style. Extrude a little of the sausage meat
and tie a knot in the casing as close to the meat as possible, leaving at
least 10cm of casing dangling.
11. Feed the sausage meat into the casing, applying uniform pressure. (Be
careful: too fast and the skin will rupture; too slow and air pockets will
form, causing the sausages to explode when cooked.) When finished, tie a
knot in the other end of the casing.
12. To form the sausages into a chain, pinch and twist the stuffed casings at
12cm–15cm intervals. (Turn the first clockwise, the second anti-clockwise,
and so on, to prevent them unravelling.) Store until you’re ready to cook
them. They will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, and in the freezer for
up to 3 months.
13. To cook the sausages, heat a large pan of water to 65C/149F. Add the
sausages and poach for 20 minutes. (This gentle cooking helps keep in the
meat’s juices.) Lift the sausages from the water, and pat dry with kitchen
towel. (If you’re making skinless sausages, leave out this step and just fry
them.)
14. Put a splash of oil in a large frying pan, add the sausages and fry them
until brown all over. (This needs a medium heat: if it’s done too quickly,
the sausages will split. Too slowly and the outside will overcook.) Remove
the sausages from the pan.
For the onion gravy
2 star anise
75ml light olive oil
6 large onions (about 1.2kg), finely sliced
100g-150g pork skin (you should be able to obtain this from a good butcher),
chopped
250g pork leg or shoulder, roughly chopped
400g sausage meat (from the recipe above)
3 fresh sage leaves
Sherry vinegar, to taste
1. Place a small pressure cooker (lid off) over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
Crush the star anise and bag it up in a square of muslin. Add this to the
pressure cooker, along with 45ml olive oil and the sliced onions. Cook for
20 minutes, or until the onions are soft and nicely browned, stirring
occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, place a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat for 10
minutes. Add the remaining oil and, when it starts smoking, add the chopped
pork skin, chopped pork and reserved sausage meat. Stir occasionally until
browned all over. (To brown properly, all the meat has to be in contact with
the surface of the pan. If need be, fry it in batches.)
3. Remove half the caramelised onions and set aside. Tip the browned meat into
the pressure cooker containing the rest of the onions. Return the frying pan
to a high heat, and deglaze it by adding 100ml water and bringing it to the
boil, then scraping the base of the pan to collect the bits stuck to the
bottom. When the liquid has reduced by half, pour it into the pressure
cooker.
4. Add enough cold water to cover, attach the lid, bring up to a high
pressure, and cook for 45 minutes.
5. Remove the pressure cooker from the heat and let the pressure reduce
slowly. Leave it to cool, then take off the lid and strain the mixture into
a clean pan. Discard the onions, meat and skin.
6. Tip the reserved caramelised onions into the pan with the liquid. Place
over a high heat and reduce the liquid by half. Remove from the heat. Rub
the sage leaves between your palms, then add them to the pan. Taste the
gravy and add a drop or two of sherry vinegar to cut through the richness.
For the mash
6 large yukon gold or maris piper potatoes (about 1.5kg)
150ml whole milk (or to taste)
150g unsalted butter (or to taste)
Table salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Place the potatoes on a baking
tray and bake for 1–1½ hours, depending on their size.
2. Cut the potatoes in half, and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Gently warm the
milk in a pan, then pour onto the potatoes. Add the butter, and mash with
the potatoes until well combined. Season with salt and plenty of pepper.
Serve with gelled butter.
For the gelled butter
125g butter
2g (about ½ tsp) powdered agar
1 Melt the butter in a small pan with 60ml water. Whisk until combined. Add
the agar and boil for 1 minute, whisking continuously until it has
dissolved. Pour through a fine sieve into a small container and leave in the
freezer to set. It needs to chill as fast as possible so the emulsion
doesn’t split. To serve, remove from the container, cut into cubes and dot
over the mash.
Guinness mustard
I got this recipe from my friend Robin Weirs.
275g black mustard seeds (use white or brown if you want a milder mustard)
250ml Guinness
225ml red wine vinegar
1 tsp four-spice mix (equal parts cinnamon, mace, clove, and allspice)
3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1. Mix together the seeds, Guinness, vinegar and spices, and leave to soak for
36-48 hours. (Note: for milder mustard, soak the seeds in water and change
the water several times during the long soak. This will help to remove some
of the compounds that pack the mustard’s punch. After soaking the seeds,
combine them with the Guinness, vinegar, and spices, before blending.)
2. Place in the food processor until the seeds are coarsely ground and well
blended.
Sausage facts
- The pig was domesticated around 5,000BC in Egypt and China.
- The word sausage derives from salsus, the Latin for salted.
- Excavations at St Albans have unearthed the remains of what appears
to have been a Roman sausage factory.
- Sausages were banned by Emperors Constantine I and Leo V because they
contained blood (the consumption of which was forbidden by the Bible) and
because their shape inevitably associated them with pagan phallic rites.
- By 2005, a hefty 189,000 tonnes of sausages were eaten in Britain.
A cheat's guide to the best bangers
Just in case you can’t be bothered to make them yourself, try the following:
Michael Kirk, Wolverhampton (01902 425064, www.porkiepies.com).
A huge variety of prize-winning sausages, made with pork from Shropshire
farms.
Crombie’s of Edinburgh (0131 556 7643, www.sausages.co.uk).
Forty varieties, from the traditional to the weird and wonderful, such as
whisk, hog and wild thyme.
Real Meat Co, Warminster (01985 840562, www.realmeat.co.uk).
Made with at least 80% meat and no additives.
Cranborne Stores, Dorset (01725 517210, www.cranbornestores.co.uk).
Handmade sausages from traditional rare breeds reared in Dorset woodland.
Well Hung Meat, Devon (0845 230 3131, www.wellhungmeat.com).
Soil Association certified organic, 100% meat sausages. Try a mild breakfast
sausage, or a robust “well-hung” sausage for supper.
www.potatolovers.co.uk recommends
best varieties for different cooking needs and provides details of nearest
stockists. It also does mail order, but only in large quantities.
