British Sausage Week 2015 (2-8 November) is challenging the nation to reconsider the humble banger and who better to lead the charge than one of the most endeared and well-respected chefs, Michel Roux Jr?
With a name synonymous with quality, a passion for food that can be enjoyed by all and, importantly, a true sausage aficionado, Michel will put sizzle into the country’s sausage-eating tradition.
As well as sharing a range of stylish new recipes, including his very own Pork & Leek Sausage Bourguignone and Wasabi Duchess Potato with Honey and Soy Glazed Sausage, Michel will award the best sausages in retailers, independent butchers/farm shops and catering establishments following a nationwide competition, which has drawn well over 700 entries. This will ensure the great British public can always tuck into a top notch pork sausage, like those produced under the Red Tractor pork scheme.
Michel Roux Jr said: “I’m delighted to be involved in British Sausage Week, and celebrate the best quality sausages from around the country.
“I have always enjoyed experimenting with classic dishes and ingredients, without compromising on quality – with sausages you can do so much. It’s time to re-think the humble banger and look beyond mash and gravy to give sausages a bit of the Michelin-star treatment!”
For more information on British Sausage Week visit www.lovepork.co.uk
Take five with British Sausage Week 2015 Ambassador, Michel Roux Jr
Tell us about your favourite sausage dishes?
For a classic dish, I like sausages in pastry. The traditional British version is called pigs in blankets of course, and is normally made with flaky pastry. But for me, with my French roots, I like to wrap a sausage in brioche so it’s more of a rich, buttery bread dough. You need a really good quality pork sausage and it has to be chunky.
For something more innovative, I would probably pick one of the recipes I developed for British Sausage Week, the Wasabi Duchess Potato with Honey and Soy Glazed Sausage which has a bit of chilli in it. Again, you need to use a good quality pork sausage, possibly with a bit of leek or onion so it has a flavour, but it’s not too overpowering as there’s a lot of chilli and other flavours in the recipe.
Do you have a preference on sausage variety or flavour?
Being a die-hard classicist, I love classic flavours so pork and sage, pork and rosemary or pork and leek – great flavours that show off the quality of the pork. I’m open to more modern interpretations, however, and recently tasted a pork, black pudding and apple sausage. It was really delicious; all the flavours went together really well. I also like adding seasonal flavours and ingredients, so pork and chestnut, pork and wild mushrooms. In summertime, it would be pork and tomato or pork and fennel; seasonality is quite important to me.
What are your top tips when it comes to preparing and serving sausages?
Sausages are extremely versatile, because they have different flavours and go with different combinations. One of the dishes I created for British Sausage Week, Sausage Bourguignone, is usually associated with beef, but in my recipe it’s basically a pork sausage casserole using red wine and it is great served with a creamy mash potato.
There are many ways to cook them too; grilled is one of my favourite ways as it gives a lovely smoky flavour. You can roast and even poach them. If you’re BBQ-ing sausages poach them first and then put them on the BBQ to ensure they’re cooked through.
How important is it to source quality assured sausages?
As chefs we should always seek out quality ingredients, and just because it’s the humble sausage doesn’t mean we should compromise on quality. We should always look for the best quality ingredients and provenance is important to me too, more and more customers are asking where this produce comes from. Supporting local suppliers and local butchers adds value to the dish and it’s important to know where the ingredients come from so you can be sure of the quality.
How do you suggest we rethink the humble banger’?
You can make sausages exciting. Sausages are great, even simply grilled in a sausage sandwich they’re delicious, who doesn’t like that? But you can be clever and innovative too; take my two dishes, they are simple and they use classic techniques but they make sausages into a completely different dish. Chefs and caterers can sell sausages as a great British tradition but make it in a different way; looking up some great dishes because they are so versatile.
What would make a Michelin-star sausage recipe?
A pork sausage in brioche bread is a good example of taking something humble and making it really special. You need a great quality sausage, wrapped in brioche and served with a truffle sauce. There are many ways to do it, but this is one of my favourite ways to pimp up a sausage.
Pork & Leek Sausage Bourguignone
A French classic with a British Twist!
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 8 Pork & Leek Sausages
- 12 button onions peeled
- 12 button mushrooms
- 2 carrots peeled and sliced
- 500ml strong red wine
- 500ml beef stock
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- Salt, pepper
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 spring thyme
- 1 bay leaf
Method:
- Boil the wine with the thyme, bay leaf and sugar until reduced by half, pass through a sieve and set aside.
- Cook the onions in a saucepan until golden using all the butter, then add the flour, garlic and mix well with a wooden spoon. Pour in the wine and stock, bring to the boil, add the mushrooms and carrots.
- Lightly grill the sausages until coloured but not cooked through. Add these to the red wine sauce and continue to simmer for 20mins.
- Check the seasoning, sprinkle with a little chopped parsley and serve with either a creamy mashed potato or buttered new potatoes.
Wasabi Duchess Potato with Honey and Soy Glazed Sausage
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 3 baked potatoes, mashed
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 yolks
- Salt, wasabi paste to taste
- 6 pork sausages
- (Cumberland sausages are a good option)
- 1 red chilli
- 2 tbsp honey
- 6 tbsp soy
- 1 lime juiced
Method:
- Take the mashed potato and whilst still warm beat in the butter, yolks and seasoning, adding as much wasabi as you like.
- Place this in a piping bag with a star nozzle; pipe onto a non-stick tray circles the shape of doughnuts with a hole in the middle.
- Take the skin off the sausages and shape the meat into 4 balls that fit into the hole of the doughnut.
- Bake in oven at 200ºC for 10mins. The sausage meat should be cooked and the potato golden.
- Bring the honey, soy and lime juice to the boil and then simmer until sticky.
Use to glaze the sausage meat, then sprinkle thinly sliced chilli on top for a real kick.