English Bangers

(Click on pics to enlarge)

This is a Cumberland style banger owing to the mix of seasonings. 

Pork
I make 1 pound batches with pork shoulder with plenty of fat. I add ¼ lb. pork belly fat. Chop both the shoulder and and the belly in .5 inch pieces and mix together in the large bowl. Run through the meat grinder on the smallest blade. Put back in the frig.

Rusk (Bread Crumbs)
I make rusk from scratch with baking powder and no yeast.  Using rusk is the traditional way of making bangers.  However, ground up saltine cracker work just as well. The extra salt from the crackers will not hurt. The purpose for the rusk is to bind the meat and fat and retain the juices in the sausage.

Rusk Recipe
135 gr. flour
80 ml. cold water
1.5 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt

Mix all in a bowl and form a dough ball. Roll out the dough to ¼ inch. In 450° oven bake 10 minutes. Slice the dough in ½ lengths, lower the over to 375° another 10 minutes. If they aren’t dry enough bake another 5 minutes on 275°. Run bread through a food processor grating blade and then the processor blade to make the rusk fine.

Sausage Casings
This is an important step. Use standard 29-32mm Hog Casings.  Open one end of the casing and in the sink fill it with water to rinse the inside and expand the casing. Then soak the casings in warm water and a TBSP of vinegar.  They should soak 30 minutes to an hour. The reason for doing this is if the casings are too small in diameter or they are not properly cleaned they will get tough when cooked. washing them out and soaking in vinegar makes the casing softer.

Cumberland Style Seasoning
In a jar mix these seasonings.  Only use 3.5 to 4 tsps of seasoning per pound of pork and save the rest. You will want to mix the 3.5 to 4 tsps seasoning with water before adding it to the meat mixture:
3 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. white pepper
3 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Per Pound Ratios
36″ of casings per pound
To a KitchenAid mixer add the meat.
The rusk 10 Saltine cracker chopped finely in a food processor
In a cup mix the seasoning and water together. (3.5 to 4 tsp of seasoning per pound to the meat and ½ cup or a little more of water per pound.) and add the seasoning mixture blend.

Mix one pound at a time for 2 minutes in a KitchenAid with a mixing blade and then by hand until the meat gets like a wet stringy Pâté. Place the meat in a freezer bag and leave in the frig until ready to stuff the casings. Always keep the meat as cold as possible throughout these steps.

Slide the casing onto the stuffing tube. When first starting run some meat the end of the stuffing to push out the air. Leave 4″ of casing on the end, don’t tie end until you are done stuffing the entire casing. This allows air to leave the casing.

Stuff the casings and then twist the stuffed casings into sausage lengths ~4 inches.  Place them in the frig overnight, cover with plastic so the skin doesn’t dry. They need a baste in the seasonings overnight and maintain the form of the casing. Twist the casing away from you, then toward you and follow that process so the casings are nice and tight.

Cooking Bangers

1) For breakfast slowly boil them in 185º to 200º water for about 20 minutes. Remove the casing and serve.
2) For bangers and mash, boil has mentioned only prsoak the bangers at room temperture water to soften the casing more (dropping cold sausage in hot water can harden the casing) then in a fry pan with oil brown two sides. Leave the casings on and serve with mashed potatoes and gravy.

As of 9/18/22

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