Englishbangers Recipes

ULTIMATE BANGERS AND MASH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Make the onion gravy in advance. See our recipe for the BEST onion gravy.
• To Make the Mash: Place the potatoes in a pot of water and add the salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a steady simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until they potatoes are just tender when pierced with a knife. Be careful not to over-boil them. Thoroughly drain the potatoes and place them back in the empty pot set over very low heat just to maintain warmth. If using a ricer or food mill (this creates the most optimal texture), run the potatoes through it now while they're hot. If using a hand masher mash the potatoes while they're hot. (Avoid using an electric mixer or food processor. See blog post for explanation.) Mash the potatoes until fluffy and you've reached the desired degree of smoothness. Be careful not to over-mash or the potatoes will become gluey. Use a spoon to stir in the butter. Once melted stir in the hot milk gradually, allowing time for the potatoes to absorb the liquid after each addition. Add more hot milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• To Prepare the Sausages: While the potatoes are boiling place the sausages in a baking dish with a little oil and roast the sausages for about 10 minutes on each side or until nicely browned. (Alternatively you can fry the sausages but baking them creates an especially nice crispy outer shell with a juicy interior.) For sausage-making enthusiasts we highly recommend our Homemade British Bangers.
• To serve, place a mound of mashed potatoes on each plate, lay the sausages on the mashed potatoes and top with onion gravy. Peas are a traditional side.

BANGERS AND MASH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place potatoes in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, and mash with 1 teaspoon of butter, and enough milk to reach your desired creaminess. Continue mashing, or beat with an electric mixer, until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until heated through. Remove from pan, and set aside. Add remaining teaspoon of butter to the skillet, and fry the onions over medium heat until tender. Mix gravy mix and water as directed on the package, and add to the skillet with the onions. Simmer, stirring constantly, to form a thick gravy.
• Pour half of the gravy into a square casserole dish so that is coats the bottom. Place sausages in a layer over the gravy (you can butterfly the sausages if you wish). Pour remaining gravy over them, then top with mashed potatoes.
• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until potatoes are evenly brown.

HOMEMADE BRITISH BANGERS

Steps:

• Combine the pork, fat and crushed ice in a bowl and then, working quickly, use a meat grinder to grind the mixture through a medium die. Put the mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes and then grind again through a small die. (Preferably grind the meat mixture into a bowl set atop an ice bath to keep the meat cold.) Note: It is imperative that the meat be at a constant cold temperature so that the fat doesn't get too soft. You should be able to see clear definition between the lean meat the specks of fat in the ground mixture.
• Place ground meat in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add all remaining ingredients except for the hog casings. Mix the meat mixture with the paddle for 3-4 minutes until threads begin to appear in the meat: If you take a clump of meat and pull it apart with your fingers you will see tiny threads pulling apart. When you see this your meat is ready. *If the meat mixture is too dry and stiff, add a little more ice water. You want a soft/smooth mixture that will easily go into the casings.*This is also the time to taste your sausage mixture so you can adjust the seasonings if needed. To do this, take a bit of the meat mixture, fry it up in a pan, taste it and adjust the seasonings if needed.Place the meat mixture back in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the casings.
• Thread your sausage stuffer with the prepared hog casings, fill the sausage stuffer with the meat mixture, and stuff the casings being careful to avoid air gaps while also being careful to not over-stuff the casings.Twist the sausages into links. Use a sausage pricker to prick any air bubbles out of the links.For best results chill the sausages overnight. This will give the flavors time to develop. Makes about 20 6-inch links.
• To cook, gently poach the bangers in lightly salted water and then fry, grill, or bake them. Once poached they will keep in the fridge, tightly wrapped, for up to a week. (See note for freezing instructions.)

TRADITIONAL BRITISH BANGERS

Steps:

• Knead together the pork, veal, fat, and bread.
• Stir the salt, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, mace, thyme, marjoram, sage, onion powder and lemon peel into the egg, and then knead into the meat mixture.
• CHEF'S NOTE: At this point, I fry a small sausage patty and taste it so that I can adjust the seasonings, because the recipe so far is fairly mild.
• Firmly stuff the mixture into the prepared hog (sausage) casings.
• Prick any air pockets with a pin.
• Poach, broil, grill, or fry them before serving.
• Serve the bangers, drowned in nice thick onion and mushroom gravy, with a heap of mashed potatoes.
• The raw sausages can be refrigerated for 3 days, cooked sausages for 1 week.
• They can also be frozen (raw, poached, or broiled) for 3 months.

BRITISH BANGERS SAUSAGES

Steps:

• Get out about 15 to 20 feet of hog casings and soak them in warm water. If you don't trust your source, run water through them to check for punctures or weak spots.
• Make sure all your equipment is cold, as in freeze the grinding plate and blades, and the bowl you will put the meat into for 30 minutes to an hour. Do the same for the meat and fat. When everything's nice and cold, mix the meat and fat with all the spices (leave out the oats and beer for the moment).
• Grind it all through a coarse plate; I use a 10 mm plate. Test the temperature of the mixture, and if it's 35°F or colder, go ahead and grind it all again through a fine die, like a 4.5 mm or somesuch. If it's warmer than 35°F, put the mix back in the freezer to chill. This might take an hour or so if you've let the meat warm up too much.
• Once the sausage has been ground twice, test the temperature again to make sure it's 35°F or colder. I prefer to chill the mix down to 28°F to 32°F for this next stage. Chill the mix and when it's cold enough, take it out and add the oats and beer. Now, mix and knead this all up in a big bin or bowl with your (very clean) hands for a solid 2 minutes -- your hands will ache with cold, which is good. You want everything to almost emulsify.
• Stuff the sausage into hog casings rather loosely. I like bangers to be about 6 to 8 inches long, but it's your choice. To twist them into links, tie off one end of the coil you just made. Pinch off links with your two hands and roll the link between them forward a couple times. Move down the coil and repeat, only this time roll backwards a few times. Repeat until you do the whole coil. (This video shows how I do it.) Now look at the links, which will probably have air pockets in them. Use a sterile needle or sausage pricker (set it aglow in your stovetop flame) to puncture the casing over all the air pockets. Gently compress the links together to squeeze out the air pockets and rotate the links a bit more to tighten; this takes practice.
• Hang your links for at least 1 hour if your room is warm, and up to overnight if you can hang them in a place that's 40°F or cooler. Don't let them freeze yet. If you are not hanging overnight, let the sausages continue to dry uncovered in the fridge overnight before you seal them up and freeze. Bangers will keep a week in the fridge and a year in the freezer, if you've vacuum sealed them.

BANGERS AND MASH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the sausages in one layer on the baking rack. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the sausages are just cooked through.
• Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large saucepan with 1 tablespoon of salt and enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender. Drain the potatoes in a colander and return them to the saucepan. Add the butter, creme fraiche, milk, Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard, dry mustard, 1 tablespoon salt, and the pepper and beat the potatoes in the pan with a handheld mixer on low speed until very smooth and creamy.
• To serve, mound a generous portion of potatoes on a dinner plate and top with sausages that have been cut in half diagonally. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve.