Beer Bangers English Sausage

England and the entire United Kingdom have a great tradition and high consumption of sausages (sausages), both fresh and emulsified (sausages). They consume it at every meal, including breakfast, in the traditional full English breakfast, which is more of a meal than a breakfast. The name “bangers” appeared around 1919 during the First World War, when sausages were prepared with cheap products, such as bread, as meat was scarce.

Too much bread and liquid caused the sausages to expand and burst during cooking in the pan, which is why they became commonly known as “bangers”, from “bang” or “pop”. Currently, bread recipes continue to be made as part of the tradition. But nowadays sausages in England are called “bangers” only when served in the typical dish called “Bangers & Mash”, which is a sausage dish with mashed potatoes.

Beer Banger English Sausage Ingredients

• 800 g of clean pork shank (80% of base weight);
• 200 g of rigid pork fat (20% of base weight);
• 15 g of salt (1.5%*);
• 2.5 g of curing salt 1 (0,25%*);
• 2.5g of antioxidant (0,25%*);
• 1 g of ground white pepper (0.1%*);
• 1 g of nutmeg (0.1%*);
• 1 g of dehydrated parsley (0.1%*);
• 2 g of dehydrated onion flakes (0.2%*);
• 2 g of garlic powder (0.2%*);
• 2 g of allspice (0.2%*);
• 75 g of breadcrumbs;
• 200 ml of dark beer (Dunkel, Bock, Stout);
• Natural pork casing (approx. 1 meter).

(*) % amount calculated on the base weight (meat + fat).

Preparation of English Beer Banger sausage

1. Mix all dry seasonings and additives in a bowl. Reserve;
2. Rinse 1 meter of natural pork casing and leave it immersed in a pot of water to soften;
3. Clean the pork leg and fat, remove the leather and other hard tissue;
4. Cut the meat and fat into small cubes to pass through the grinder;
5. Use the disc with 8mm or 10mm holes. Avoid small holes as the meat will be ground very finely and the texture of the sausage will be crumbly. If you prefer or don't have a grinder, cut the meat and fat into very small pieces with a very sharp knife;
6. Mix the ground/cut meat with the condiments. Mix until evenly distributed;
7. Gradually add the beer, mix and continue adding until you get a sticky but not too soft texture. In this recipe, 200ml of beer was sufficient, but it may vary according to the absorption capacity of the flour and meat;
8. Embed in pork casing;
9. Twist or tie into segments of the desired size;
10. Finish in the frying pan, barbecue or oven. On low heat they don't burst. There is no problem with bursting, it is an option, so if you want them to burst (bang), use a higher temperature. The steam pressure will burst the casing and open the sausage.

Beer Banger English sausage result

It's a very tasty sausage. The breadcrumbs absorb the beer and don't let it run during cooking, this way you can taste the beer. Without the flour, all the beer would flow during cooking and the result would not be the same. Although this type of sausage was developed to make up for the lack of meat during times of war, flour is a great way to add and stabilize the flavor coming from liquids that would hardly be incorporated in large quantities by animal protein alone.

It's a simple and cheap recipe that's worth making!

For a typical English meal, try the “Bandergs & Mash” dish, which is sausage accompanied by mashed potatoes.

Validity and conservation

Validity based on similar industrialized products.

Refrigerated: 5 days at temperatures up to 4ºC
Frozen: 120 days at -12°C or colder

Reference for the recipe: https://www.englishbreakfastsociety.com/bangers-sausage-recipe.html