A sausage roll is a uniquely British snack, similar to American ‘pigs in a blanket’, Dutch saucijzenbroodjes or the Czech Klobasnek (a kolache filled with meat), however instead of bread or pancake dough the sausage is encased in puff pastry. A little side note, in the UK, ‘pigs in a blanket’ are small cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon.
Recently for our Jubilee garden party we just had to serve mini buffet style sausage rolls. However there is nowhere in the US that sells them. Back in the UK, every supermarket freezer section has them ready for cooking, every deli has pre-made ones, and every baker will serve hot ones as snacks on the go. Given the abundance and availability of sausage rolls, it is no wonder that no one makes them anymore.
You could us any type of sausage meat for a sausage roll, however British pork sausage meat will give the sausage rolls a more authentic flavour. I made some Scotch eggs last year and found a way of creating sausage meat with the correct flavourings, however if you do opt to use pre-made sausages, such as bangers, then remove the meat from the casings, otherwise the sausage rolls will become deformed in the oven.
Mini Homemade Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
- British Pork Sausage Meat
- 1 lb (450g) of ground pork
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp ground mace
- 1 tsp rubbed sage
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 0.25 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
Method
Mix together the pork, pepper, mace, salt, ginger, sage and nutmeg. Cover the meat and leave it the the refrigerator for at least an hour. Defrost the puff pastry. On a well floured surface lay out a sheet of puff pastry and gently roll it out to about a 12″ x 9″ (30cm x 23cm) rectangle. Take some pork sausage meat and roll it into a long sausage about 9″ (23cm) long and about the thickness of your thumb. Place the sausage along the shorter edge of the puff pastry, leaving about a 0.25″ (0.5cm) gap along the edge.
Arranging the sausage-meat on the puff pastry
Cut the pastry about 1.5″ (3.5cm) away from the sausage meat along the length of the sausage. Roll the pastry around the sausage and cut it into 4 equal sized sections. Brush some beaten egg along the seam of the sausage roll, press and stick the pastry together.
Sealing the edge of a sausage roll
Place the sausage rolls, seam side down on a greased baking tray.
Sausage rolls ready for the oven
Brush each sausage roll with some beaten egg and the cook in a 400F (200C) oven for 20 to 25 mins or until they are puffed up and golden brown. Allow them to cool slightly before eating or serve cold.
Mini Homemade Sausage Rolls
