Why sausages:
- The convenience of sausages entice 6.8% of people but 13.4% succumb simply because they fancy a change. 8.4% consider them a treat. But the largest number, nearly 30% eat them simply because sausages are their favourite meal.
- Sausages are loved all day long. Not purely a classic breakfast ingredient, on 44% of occasions the sausage is the star of an evening meal, rising to such status by a steady 20% over recent years.
Interesting Facts:
- With over £600 million spent on sausages and 266,500 tonnes consumed in the last year, a recent study delved deep into Britain’s sausage consumption habits to discover some pretty delicious data…
- Sausages storm ahead as the number 1 ‘in-home meal’ in the UK … ahead of the cheese and ham sandwich.
- The big questions is: Why buy sausages? The most popular answer given: Because I’ve run out at home!! So clearly the British don’t like to be without sausage in the house.
Sausage Psychology:
- Delving into the mind of a sausage lover reveals that the combination of a hard exterior and soft interior and the moreish quality and succulent aftertaste makes the sausage irresistible.
- While the convenient ease of cooking and the range of flavours from the traditional to the ethnic mean that Britons just can’t get enough.
Records:
- The World’s longest sausage was made in October 2000 during British Sausage Week and weighed 15.5 tonnes and was 35 miles long!
- The most expensive sausage in the UK was made from fillet steak with Champagne and truffles and cost £20 each!
Sausage through the Centuries:
- The history of the sausage starts at least 5,000 years ago in Sumeria (modern day Iraq).
- By 900 BC sausages had become the popcorn of the ancient Greek theatre, available from sausage sellers in the aisles.
- In 320 AD the Roman Emperor Constantinus I and the Catholic Church banned sausage eating because of links to pagan festivals! This led to sausages going underground until the ban was lifted.
- The sausage was in trouble again nine hundred years ago. Emperor Leo V declared that sausage makers would be ‘severely scourged, smoothly shaved and banished from our realm forever’. It is not known what sausage sellers had done to cause such offence.
- It was in the reign of Charles I that sausages were divided into links for the first time.
- Apparently legendary highwayman, Dick Turpin, was known to moonlight as a butcher making sausages from the finest meats hunted in Epping Forest.
- Sausages were nicknamed bangers during the Second World War because when they were fried they tended to explode with a bang!
- Henry V stated: ‘War without fire is as worthless as sausages without mustard’.
What's in sausage?:
- They can be made with any meat but most sausages eaten in the UK are pork sausages made with pork meat, fat, a cereal binder, water, herbs and spices.
- You may not want to know what goes into sausages at the bottom end of the market. A typical recipe might look like: 30% pork fat, 20% recovered meat, 30% rusk and soya, 15% water and 5% assorted e-numbers, flavourings, sugar, flavour enhancer, preservative, colour etc etc. It is a sad fact that this type of sausages is likely to be served in schools and hospitals.
- At the top end the list will be much shorter: 40% belly pork, 40% boned shoulder of pork, 10% breadcrumbs, 5% water and 5% herbs and spices.
- Still buying the cheap sausages?
What is the difference between a cheap and premium sausage?:
- At worst a cheap sausage is a tube of pink fat. Compared to a premium sausage it has less meat, and more added fat. Cheap sausages also contain more water, filler (e.g. rusk), additives and chemicals. The 'meat' used in a cheap sausage will often include skin, rind, gristle and bone but the meat in a better sausage will come from a recognisable cut of meat which could grace your Sunday lunch table.
- Cheap sausages often contain high levels of saturated flare fat which is unhealthy and bad for cholesterol levels. Lastly, economy sausages might contain pork cheek or jowl. These contain the pituitary glands which is where any drug residues or disease are concentrated, which might lead to risks for humans.
- Pound for pound, a quality sausage should contain twice as much lean meat as a cheaper version. They will be made with better quality seasonings and spices. Lastly, the person making the good sausage will know where the meat comes from and how it was reared.
How do I cook sausages?:
- The basic methods are fry, grill or bake. Whichever method you use, try to cook the sausages slowly and never prick a good sausage. Never prick a quality sausage! They have natural sausage skins and your holes will let all moisture and taste out.
- Slow cooking reduces the risk of bursting and leads to the development of sticky, bronzed sausage.
- Research shows that the healthiest sausage is cooked on a BBQ. The clear message is to barbecue sausages more often!
Factory Farming:
- Lean = tasteless
- Most of the pork we eat comes from animals which are bred to put on as much lean weight as possible in the minimum time. In order to do this they may be fed a cocktail of drugs and slaughtered young.
- The problem with lean meat is that it does not taste very good. It is an unavoidable fact we need some fat because it carries taste and succulence.
- Quality meat comes from specially selected breeds such as Duroc, the only pig breed to lay down intramuscular fat, or rare breed meat, although pure rare breed has a tendency to be over-fat, but once the meat has been cooked, surplus fat can be removed. (However these are often the tastiest parts!)
- Not only does “factory” pork score low on taste and succulence, there are potentially issues regarding the treatment of the animals.