These sausage rolls have been a big hit at parties, movie nights, and TV sporting afternoons. Sausage rolls are part of my English heritage, I remember my grandmother making them. She was wonderful with all kinds of pastry; I’m not nearly so clever. For those of you who are not familiar with them, sausage rolls are similar to “Pigs in Blankets”, an American favorite. But, much, much better! They are traditionally eaten on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas when the servants had a day off (if you lived in the Downton Abbey era).
Sausage Rolls
I’m going to give two sets of directions, one with the sausage made from scratch and one with doctored store bought sausage. I’ve done them both ways, both are good. I’m not talented with pastry and used commercial all butter frozen puff pastry from Pepperidge Farm; but I invite you to make your own if you are so inclined. They would be even better.
This recipe was adapted from one in the New York Times by David Tanis.
Sausage Roll recipe #1 (from scratch)
- 2 pounds port shoulder, not too lean, have it ground coarse (you can have the butcher grind it for you or do this in a food processor with the metal blade)
- 2 teaspoons of kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon of black pepper
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon mace
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 1 tablespoon dried
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Sausage Roll recipe #2 (Cheater’s rolls)
Before you make the “cheaters rolls”, check the seasoning of your sausage by frying a bit in a skillet. The sausage may not need any extra spicing up and could be fine as is.
No one needs to know you didn’t make these from scratch.
- 2 pounds mild pork sausage either bulk or removed from casings
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon mace
- 1 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or ½ tablespoon dried
Pastry and Assembly
- 1 package all butter puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
- Defrost the pastry if frozen.
- Mix the pork with all the seasonings in a large bowl, incorporating evenly.
- With wet hands form the sausage into 4 logs or rolls about 9 inches in length. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper
- Working one at a time, roll each pastry sheet into a rectangle approximately 9 by 10 inches, cut in half to make 2 pieces each about 9 by 5 inches.
- Unwrap each sausage roll from the plastic and place it in the center of one rectangle. Wet one of the long edges with a bit of water to seal the pastry and roll it up, tucking in any pastry at the ends.
- With the seam side down, cut each log into 8 pieces.
- Lay the pieces pastry side up (seam down) on the baking sheets and brush with the beaten egg.
- Repeat with the other pastry sheet.
- Bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and brown, and the sausage cooked.
Cool for a few minutes before serving, these are good warm or served at room temperature. They are even good for breakfast the next day reheated in the oven. Serve with a good spicy brown mustard such as the one here
These are excellent with a cold beer (or champagne).
Yummm, miss the sausage rolls in England. I’ve tried to make them here, but the sausage just isn’t the same. I’ll have to look at your ingredients to make it home-made :). I may have to try your Cheater’s version first 🙂
I agree, you have to “Dr” the sausage or make your own.
Oh, lovely, Liz! I cook lots of my British heritage foods, including sausage rolls. I make my own sausage, too, the only way to get it just the way you want it, right? So good with a cup of tea or, as you say, a cold beer or Champagne!
My son liked them with coffee for breakfast, I prefer the champagne! Do you have a favorite spice mixture? I’d love to see it.
Sausage rolls are always a winner!!! Ketchup for me though! http://cookingwithmrfitz.com/?s=sausage+rolls&x=0&y=0
Thanks for visiting, ketchup is good as well. Thanks for the link, it was the Scotch eggs that caught my eye. I haven’t had them in decades and they look lovely. How did the vegetarian sausage rolls turn out? I had a lot of vegetarian guests over the holidays and they were very disappointed to miss the sausage rolls.
Scotch eggs are the biz! And for vegescarians you could always use falaffel mix instead if meat.. Altjough are eggs vegetarian? The ceg sausage rolls turned out good indeed.. Even sosmix works although i think its more unhealthy! Yiu could even use tvp .. Remember that?
I like the idea of falaffel, you could flavor it like sausage. Now I’m curious, here is the low down:
Whether or not you can eat eggs depends largely on the type of vegetarian diet that you follow. Semi-vegetarian and pescetarian diets allow for the consumption of eggs, as well as some animal or fish meats. Among pure vegetarians, lacto-ovo vegetarians eat eggs and dairy products, but no meat, poultry or fish. Ovo vegetarians also eat eggs, but do not include dairy in their diet. In contrast, lacto vegetarians eat dairy products, but not eggs. Veganism is the most restrictive vegetarian diet and does not allow for any animal products, including eggs, dairy and honey.
Far too crazy indeed! I think animals and any product from animals counts and therefore you aint a vege if you eat them in any way..! Eating the egg yet not the chicken? The thing it comes from? Very weird indeed..
I love sausage rolls – we have them for breakfast on Christmas morning (an English tradition from dad’s family). Pork are my favourite and I make them similarly to you (your cheat’s way!) but also add fennel seed. I have a hankering for some now!
Fennel seed would be a good addition. The rolls were delicious with coffee and tea in the morning, I like the idea of a Christmas tradition.
When we lived in Budapest, there were these little pastries you could buy at the train station called Fornetti- they seem very similar to your rolls. The Fornetti came in many different flavors and since we couldn’t read Hungarian, we had to “point and try” a bunch of them. They were all delicious and are one of the things we miss from Budapest– the kids talk about them often. I may try to surprise them with some homemade Fornetti– I could be a hero!
Absolutely, send me the recipe if you do. These types of rolls are highly addictive!