Recipe: Bangers and Mash

Bangers and Mash is a well known English meal.... but few people realize that it's a traditional meal for the Irish and the Germans.   Bangers are sausages... and the kind of sausage you make depends on what you like... it can be breakfast sausage.. or bratwurst... in my case.. we used "beer brats"... the white and mild variety... similar to the "weisswursts" my mother cooked. 

How to cook them?.. well.. as many kinds of sausages there are.. there are probably as many ways to cook them.  You can just brown them and cook them until fully cooked, or grill them.. or the way I'm posting today.

The recipe in today's post is a version of one I saw that was by someone growing up in Ireland who's family ate it regularly. 

It caught my eye because it was almost identical to the one my Mother made.  The only addition to the recipe that was different was the red wine.  I was intrigued so I made it like my Mother... only I added some red wine.. not nearly the amount that this Irish fellow did... just a little to try it.. and I loved it!

TIPS

As I mentioned.. you can use any sausage you want.. however.. I would not recommend breakfast sausage for this recipe. 

I highly recommend the beer brats or, if you can find them at a German butcher, weisswursts.

Weisswurst literally means white sausage.  It's made from veal and some mild spices.

I used Campbell's Beef Consomme ... it has a stronger beef flavor than beef broth and it's concentrated.  You can substitute beef broth or bouillon cubes if you must.. but it is best to use the Beef Consomme.

I don't measure the water exactly.. I simply fill one of the soup cans half full and add that... if you aren't using the canned consomme, don't dilute the beef broth.. just use it as is.

I used a cabernet sauvignon.. nothing expensive... Yellow Tail is a good brand.

This "gravy"  is not really gravy.. it really is soup... it's very thin... you can thicken in by taking a tablespoon of flour and adding some of the liquid from the skillet and mixing it until you have a smooth very thick mixture.. add it back to the main skillet and thicken it... use more flour if it's still not thick enough... cornstarch is also another option if you prefer not to use flour.

Figure 2 sausages per person.  I made this with 6 sausages.

We had it with some leftover cabbage from the St. Patrick's Day Dinner... add a dark beer to go with it... and serve this with mashed potatoes... yumm!

Recipe:  Bangers and Mash

All you need:

Sausages

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, halved then sliced

2 cans Campbell's Beef Consomme

1/2 can (about 5 oz.) water

1/2 cup dry red wine

Mashed potatoes

All you need to do:

In a large skillet, over medium high heat, lightly brown the sausages on all sides... remove to a plate.

Melt the butter in the skillet and add the onions.  Cook until they are soft and lightly brown.  Add the beef consomme, water and wine.  Bring to a boil and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.

If you want a true gravy.. thicken it as I mentioned in the TIPS section of the post.

Lower the heat and return the sausages to the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes until the sausages are hot again.

Serve over mashed potatoes.