We do love a sausage in this country. Breakfasts, barbecues, sausage rolls, toad in the hole, late-night sandwiches involving far too much butter - there aren’t many situations that can’t be improved by the presence of a decent banger.
We were reminded of that rather emphatically at Meatopia last week and into the weekend, where we spent four days getting people elbow-deep in sausage meat during our Sausage Making Masterclasses. Alongside Alasdair Clark of SOSIJ and Brenhan Magee of Magee’s Sausages, our own Jakob Andrews helped a steady stream of budding sausage makers learn the dark arts of seasoning, stuffing, twisting and linking.
As Jakob delicately put it afterwards: “I spent four days showing complete strangers how to stuff a sausage properly. My mum is incredibly proud.”
And after all that experimentation and enthusiastic handling, it seems only right to return to where many great sausage journeys ultimately end: bangers and mash.
For all the possibilities that exist when it comes to sausage cookery, there’s something pretty difficult to beat about a plate piled with good sausages, buttery mashed potato and enough gravy to require some sort of retaining wall.
Naturally, there’s a whole host of Turner & George sausages to choose from, but for this our money is on The Supper Pig. The real key, though, is what you put underneath and over the top. Follow Richard H. Turner’s route of bone marrow mash and proper onion gravy and you’ll be well on your way to bangers and mash nirvana.
BANGERS WITH BONE MARROW MASH & ONION GRAVY
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the sausages
8 Turner & George sausages of your choice - although The Supper Pig gets our vote
For the bone marrow mash
1kg Maris Piper potatoes
200ml whole milk
200g preserved or cooked bone marrow
Maldon sea salt flakes
For the onion gravy
8 large onions, peeled, halved and sliced
25g butter
600ml good-quality beef stock
1 tbsp Dijon or English mustard
A splash of Worcestershire sauce
Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Start with the gravy. Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan, add the onions and cook gently over a low heat for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and deeply golden. Add the beef stock, mustard and Worcestershire sauce and simmer until reduced to a rich gravy. Season to taste and keep warm.
For the mash, whip the bone marrow until light and fluffy, pass through a fine sieve and set aside. Peel and chop the potatoes, cover with cold salted water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for around 20 minutes until tender, then drain and allow to steam-dry.
Bring the milk to the boil and remove from the heat. Pass the potatoes through a ricer or vegetable mill, fold through the hot milk and check the seasoning.
Now for the sausages, and one important point: don’t prick them. With proper natural casings, all you’re doing is giving those precious juices and fat somewhere to escape. And fat, as we know, is flavour.
Cook the sausages in a heavy-based frying pan over a low heat, turning occasionally until evenly browned and cooked through. Low and slow is the order of the day; if they’re colouring too quickly, turn the heat down.
To serve, pile the mash onto the plates, make a little well in the centre and spoon in the whipped bone marrow. Pour over the piping-hot onion gravy, allowing the marrow to melt its way into the mash, then crown the lot with your sausages.
There you have it. Bangers and mash nirvana.
And put the rest of the gravy on the table. Obviously.
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