Bangers & Mash
Basic UK pub fare if you can find them, Bangers are a mild pork sausage traditionally served with onion gravy and mashed potatoes.
I was in London in the mid-1990s for a business-turned-leisure trip and even though I worked for a UK-based company at the time, I somehow didn't know about Bangers & Mash. If I had, I definitely would and absolutely could have ordered it in virtually any pub in the city. Considered basic, if not mandatory menu fare, or "Pub Grub," at any public house, Bangers & Mash is considered the national dish of the UK along side Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Fish & Chips. But it took the creativity of a local butcher shop that makes their own in-house sausages to spark my curiosity about this dish, including the origin of its name.
In The Great War (before we knew enough to number them) and again in WW II, meat was rationed in the UK, which caused sausage makers to add larger quantities of fillers, including bread, rusks, cereals and water. Accordingly, when such ingredients rapidly expanded in hot oil, the sausage would bust open with a bang. Hence, sausages became known as "bangers," a term that has endured for over a hundred years.
Any sausage can qualify as a banger, and there are as many sausage recipes as there are pubs in England, but the traditional banger, post WWII, is a relatively mild link made with pork and bread crumbs, seasoned with sage, white pepper, onion powder, mace and nutmeg. Because the sausage is a tad bland, it requires a robust gravy, and traditionally Bangers & Mash is served with a rich, brown onion gravy over mashed potatoes and along side English green peas. Bangers & Mash has been voted the country's favorite comfort food for years and once I made it, it was easy to understand why.
My local butcher specifically labeled this pack of ten sausages as "English Bangers." The sausages were about three inches long and an inch or so in diameter, stuffed into natural casings that had been twisted in the center, providing two attached Bangers. I don't know if that's how they do it in the UK, but this presentation just smacked of authenticity as if the butcher had spent his youthful time back-packing throughout the British Isles, consuming countless pints of Guinness and scores of Bangers along the way. His English Bangers were seasoned in the traditional fashion and could have used more sage. Most importantly, they lived up to their reputation, busting open as they simmered and browned in a bit of olive oil, making quite a happy mess on my stovetop.
I won't bother to post a recipe for mashed potatoes because everyone has their own version. Nor will this recipe tell you how to make a banger. If you cannot get a traditional English Banger, then any mildly flavored brat will do, like, Johsonville Stadium Brats.
This recipe was more about the Onion Gravy than about the Bangers, but Kitchen Tapestry has pulled out Onion Gravy as its own recipe. Onion Gravy can be made on its own and is delicious on a skillet fried hamburger steak, but was created in Kitchen Tapestry for the traditional UK dish of Bangers & Mash and is included in this posting below.
Bangers & Mash
Ingredients
- 8 English Bangers or mild brats
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Onion Gravy
Instructions
- Put the olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium low heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the Bangers.
- You want the sausages to cook slowly, about 30 minutes, so that they brown evenly on all sides. Turn them periodically while you make the Onion Gravy.
- To serve, put a large serving of mashed potatoes on a plate; situate two Bangers leaning against the potatoes and spoon lots of Onion Gravy over top.
Onion Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet onions, diced (like, Vidalia or Texas-1015)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cups beef stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics )
- 1 tbsp dried sage
- 1 tbsp powdered thyme
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 8-10 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp prepared yellow mustard (like, French's)
- 2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in 4-5 tbsp warm water (a slurry)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and butter to a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- When the butter has melted, add the onions. Stirring frequently, cook them until they caramelize and turn dark golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
- Add the red wine and de-glaze the pan, being sure to scrape up all the crusty brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer and reduce for about 5 minutes.
- Add the beef stock and the remaining ingredients except the slurry. Blend well and again, stirring frequently, simmer the gravy over medium to medium low heat for 10 more minutes.
- Add the slurry to the gravy, about a fourth at a time. Stir it in well and allow the gravy to come back to a simmer for a couple of minutes as the sauce thickens.
- Assess if you want a thicker sauce and if so, add a quarter more of the slurry. Continue until you have reached your desired consistency.
- Be sure to simmer the gravy for at least two minutes after adding any additional slurry.
Notes
- Although Onion Gravy is delicious in other dishes, it is a companion recipe to the UK dish and Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Bangers & Mash.
