British cuisine has not always had the best reputation, but we are not stereotyping here. Nowadays, however, we see no reason for such an assumption and there are a whole range of classic British dishes that we think are very good.
One of these is bangers and mash, which at first glance is simply sausage and mashed potato. But as always, the magic is in the detail.
Sausages and mash would be the more obvious name and that is what the dish is sometimes called, but ‘Bangers’ has survived as a very British term. Yet it is over 100 years old.
During the First World War, food was scarce and sausages were enriched with other ingredients instead of meat out of necessity, including water, which could cause the sausages to burst when heated – with a ‘bang’!
We prepare this dish in a classic way, but also in the way we like it best. The one or other French touch comes into play.
The sausage doesn’t have to come from the UK or have a specific composition. However, it must be a raw sausage for roasting that is not smoked, air-dried or cooked. If you wish, you can use the meat-free product of your preference, of course.
Here in Germany, there is a large selection of sausages to choose from. We opt for classic, coarse pork sausages flavoured with salt, pepper, caraway, marjoram, mace, paprika and allspice.
Bangers and mash need a strong onion sauce, so we start by peeling plenty of onions, halving them and cutting them into thick strips along the grain. We then sauté these strips with a little neutral oil in as large a pan as possible on a medium-high heat (for us: 6 out of 10) until they start to brown.
The more time you allow at a lower temperature, the more flavour the onions will develop. Stir every few minutes and after 10 – 15 minutes the strips will start to brown from the edges. Now create some space in the centre of the pan and add some chopped garlic, icing sugar and tomato paste. These also need to caramelise and will form the basis of our sauce.
Everything is mixed well and browned for a further 3 – 4 minutes, only then it is time to add liquid.
Now you can opt for some red wine – for us, dark beer works better here, as its bitterness balances the sweetness of the onions. We first pour a little beer into the pan and use it to dissolve the roasted substances on the bottom, the so called deglazing. Then we add the rest of the beer, which we boil down to about half its volume at a higher heat.
We add a little Dijon mustard, a bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary and a few sprigs of thyme to build up even more flavour. A few teaspoons of Worcester sauce are essential.
After a further 10 minutes, the sauce is seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. If you want more sauce, you can add a little water or stock. If you want to bind or thicken it, a little beurre manié works very well – we have described how to do this here.
During this time, all the other ingredients can be prepared. We boil mealy potatoes in salted water for about 25 minutes, drain them and leave them in the hot pot for a few more minutes so that they steam out and become drier. Then we mash them with salt, nutmeg, milk and butter to make a puree (we like it more rustic for this dish and don’t pass it through a sieve). The purée gets a special note if you quickly process the butter into beurre noisette.
The season for fresh peas is short and there is nothing wrong with frozen peas here. We melt some butter, add a little finely chopped garlic and allow the frozen peas to defrost in it, stirring occasionally, until they finally become hot. Only season with salt.
Slowly and patiently we sear the sausages on a medium-high heat in a little neutral oil on all sides until they are nicely browned all over. They do not need to be cooked through at this point.
Then we add the sausages to the sauce and leave them to simmer for a few more minutes on a low heat. The sauce should be thick and coat the sausages.
That’s all there is to it and after 30 – 40 minutes at the cooker you can serve a delicious, comforting meal.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 2 hungry people):
4 – 6 coarse sausages of pork, beef, lamb or mixtures thereof – they only need to be raw, not smoked, not air-dried and not cooked
3 – 4 medium-sized onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp icing sugar
1 tsp tomato puree
1 bay leaf
Optional: rosemary and/or thyme
500 ml dark beer
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 – 3 tsp Worcester sauce
Optional: Some water or stock (vegetable, chicken or beef)
Optional: 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp flour for beurre manié
400 g mealy potatoes
80 ml milk
80 g butter (optionally processed into beurre noisette)
Nutmeg
Salt
250 g peas, fresh or frozen
1 clove of garlic
25 g butter
Salt and pepper
