Day 3 - Sausage Roll

I am not really sure what I thought this was going to turn out like.  As I was making it, I couldn’t help but think how much it is like the meatloaf my family ate when I was growing up.  As far as I can tell, the only two differences in ingredients were:  1-In my family, we used oatmeal instead of bread crumbs and 2-We used an egg to bind instead of milk or stock.  (And we baked it instead of steaming it.)  

It is understandable why bread crumbs would have been used and it was bound with milk or stock.  Nothing went to waste during the ration years in England.  Simply, it was better to make use of the dried up remnants of a loaf of bread than throw them away.  Additionally, eggs were in such limited supply that people were only allowed one shell egg per week and one package of powdered eggs (which was equal to 12 eggs) per month.  Eggs would have been put to better use in baking than to bind a meatloaf.

My sausage roll was not exactly a roll.  The original Ministry of Food recipe instructed that the meat mixture be placed into a cocoa tin with a lid then steamed.  This would have made the finished product come out like a roll.  I did not have a cocoa tin or can.   A few years ago when I was rereading a lot of Charles Dickens, I decided to make plum pudding for Christmas.  I did not have a pudding tin so I used a Bundt pan covered in foil instead.  Since the method for steaming the sausage roll is essentially the same as when I made plum pudding, I went ahead and used my Bundt pan covered in foil again and it worked perfectly.

For anyone who has never steamed a pudding, or a sausage roll for that matter, it really is not difficult.  All you need is a large stock pot, a trivet or a scrunched up ring of foil that will fit inside your stock pot, a pudding tin, a cocoa tin or a Bundt pan, and a bit of foil if you are using a Bundt pan.  You place the trivet in the bottom of the stock pot and put enough water in the pot to go half way up the outside of your pudding tin or Bundt pan when it is set inside.  Make sure to use the trivet because you do not want the pan on the inside to rest on the bottom of the stock pan.  You do not want that pan on the direct heat source.  After that, all you have to do is let the water simmer for the amount of time indicated in the recipe.  Make sure to check it occasionally to make sure that there has not been too much water evaporation.  If you feel like the water level has dropped too much, add a little more.  Easy Peasy.

 

Sausage Roll

Serves 4

 

 

Ingredients:

8 oz sausage meat (I used ground beef)

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion or leek

1 tablespoon chopped pickle (I did not have any so I skipped this.)

1 -2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped or minced (not in original recipe but I had some on hand so I added it.)

3 oz bread crumbs

Pinch of mixed herbs

Pinch of pepper

1 ½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons stock or milk

 

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.  (I find it is best to do this by hand.)
2. Turn into a greased tin and cover with lid.
3. Steam 1 ½ to 2 hours.
4. Drain drippings then turn out onto plate and serve.

 

 

Since I only used an 80/20 grade of ground beef, there were a lot of drippings when it was finished cooking.  I keep mine in a glass jar in the refrigerator for use in cooking and flavoring other recipes.  This was not uncommon practice in the 1940s as cooking fats were extremely limited.  If you do not intend to save your drippings, please make sure that you dispose of them properly.  Dumping them down the drain could cause a clog. 

 

The end result of this recipe may not have been the prettiest thing I have ever eaten but is smelled good cooking and the flavor was wonderful.  In addition, it stretched the ground beef I had on hand.  I only purchased 8 ounces of ground beef this week and this recipe stretched it to 4 servings.  I served mine with a salad of locally grown red leaf lettuce and spinach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever used the steam method of cooking?  If not, what would entice you to try it?