SC - Sausages

[Philip & Susan Troy]

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Is there anyone on this list who actually lives in England and either makes
> or purchases various English sausages who can shine light on the various
> types that are available in Britain? I suspect that not all sausages made in
> England can be described in the same way. Is there a specific sausage that is
> called by the name 'English' sausage (e.g., containing slimy stuff) in the
> same manner that we have 'Italian' sausage (e.g., with fennel) or 'Polish'
> sausage (e.g., kielbasi)?

According to various sources such as the Jocasta Innes book about food
preservation and Jane Grigson's "Art of Making Sausages, Patés, and
other Charcuterie", what most people are talking about when they say
"English Sausage" is the banger, the English version of the chipolata.
They tend to be rather mildly spiced with pepper, and sometimes nutmeg,
with an extremely fine grind (recipes often instruct the cook to grind
the meat two or three times) and are often bulked out to various extents
with cracker crumbs generally known as "rusk". Good-quality bangers are
usually stuffed into small lamb casings, have little or no rusk, and are
at least noticably flavored with the spices. Bad-quality bangers (and
unfortunately many people are familiar only with this type, just as some
people are only familiar with the McDonald's hamburger) are stuffed into
collagen casings which burst into rubbery strands in cooking, are
utterly bland, and and are vaguely reminiscent of modelling clay or
Silly Putty. As with hamburgers, there's a broad range of quality
available, and many people whose first exposure was a bad experience
aren't inclined to arrange a second exposure. A shame.

I've had imported commercial bangers which were okay, and some bad ones,
too. The best ones I've had were made locally by butchers catering to
immigrants from the English-Speaking Banger Belt ;  ), or homemade.

On a tangential note...

I should reiterate my position that I have great respect for the
cuisines of the British Isles, but I feel that until the last ten years
or so, many of its greatest practitioners have been outside the British
Isles. It's been said that Britain's legendary reputation for mediocre
or downright bad food (a reputation not really deserved) is the result
of tolerance for extremely low standards due to institutional
(especially public school) cookery and food rationing that went on
during, and for years after, the Second World War. There are still
survivors of entire generations who'd forgotten what good food tasted
like. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight: it took about
seventy-five years to create it, and people are working on solving it.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com