A glorious homemade Cumberland Sausage is the star of this very British bangers and mash recipe that comes with an onion gravy recipe to boot
What Is Cumberland Sausage?
You will be surprised to hear that it is a sausage from the British county of Cumbria!
Us Brits are rather fond of a good sausage. One of the first things I taught myself to make when we moved to Hungary was a good British Homemade sausage.
This sausage recipe is an extension and refinement of that.
Traditionally this sausage is unlinked and sold by length or as in this recipe sold and cooked coiled.
Flavourwise this sausage should be spicy! Despite a slanderous reputation for bland food we Brits are fond of spice and have been for a very long time.
Cumberland sausages date back 500 years and as far back as the 18th Century they have been synonymous with spice.
In particular black pepper, nutmeg and mace!
How To Make Sausages At Home.
Sausages have a bad reputation for containing all sorts of crap and when it comes to cheaper sausages it is a well-deserved rep.
But the process of making sausages is simple as you can see from my video.
The greatest plus point of making your own sausages is knowing what is in them.
It is not a case of making them ‘lean’ as all sausages need a reasonable fat content.
But instead, it is a matter of making sure that you are not eating the crap that your ‘supermarket’ or butcher cannot get rid of any other way!
I am no advocate of kitchen gadgets and comparatively speaking my kitchen is sparse on that front. But a meat grinder is an absolute must-have tool as far as I am concerned.
Of course another great positive of making your own sausages at home are the giggles!
Seriously if you are not making childish and puerile jokes as you go then you are a better person than me.
How To Prepare Sausage Skins.
The most important part of this is to buy the right sausage skins.
Ensure that you buy natural sausage skins rather than manufactured sausage skins which are nothing short of nasty!
After that, it is a simple case of rinsing the salt off them. Then soaking in room temperature water for 45 minutes to an hour.
You can do this whilst you prepare your ingredients and grind your pork.
Then give them another rinse and transfer to some fresh water whilst you thread onto the sausage stuffing nozzle.
If the skins feel a little rigid increase the temperature of the soaking water a little. It will help soften it up a little but do not go too hot!
Serving Suggestions.
There is no discussion to be had on this!
The most quintessentially British way to serve sausage is as part of Bangers and Mash.
That is sausages and mashed potato, this must be accompanied by onion gravy. Failure to do so will result in incarceration in the Tower of London.
I wrote at some length about mashed potato in my recent guide to mashed potatoes.
I will not rehash my thoughts, other than to reiterate, butter/cream at varying amounts depending on texture required. Everything else is over-egging the pudding.
The last, but far from the least, thing to mention is the onion gravy.
Mine is very similar to the gravy I use in my faggots and mash recipe.
But I switch from tomato puree in that recipe to mustard in this recipe to keep the spice theme running.
You can increase/decrease the amount of flour in this recipe to change the thickness of your gravy.
Homemade Cumberland Sausage Recipe with Onion Gravy
A glorious made from scratch coiled Cumberland Sausage is the star of this very British bangers and mash recipe that also has a kick ass onion gravy!
Ingredients
For the Sausage:
- 1.5 kg (3lb 6 oz) Pork Blade
- 5 Tsp Coarse Sea Salt
- 3 Tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tsp White Pepper
- 4 Tsp Dried Sage
- 1 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Mace
- 1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 150 g (1 1/3 Cup) Breadcrumbs
- 50 ml (3 Tbsp + 1 Tsp) Water
- 2.5 m Natural Sausage Skins
For the Gravy:
- 250 g (1 2/3 Cup) Onion
- 15 g (1 Tbsp) Beef Dripping or Lard
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) Butter
- 2 Tbsp Flour
- 400 ml (1 2/3 Cup) Beef Stock
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tbsp English Mustard
- Salt, To taste
For the Mash:
- 1 Kg (2 lb 3 oz) Potato
- 100 g (1/4 Cup + 3 Tbsp) Butter
- 50 g (1/4 Cup) Cream
- Salt, To taste
For the Peas:
- 250 g (1.5 Cups) Frozen Peas
Instructions
For the Sausage:
- Soak your sausage skins as per the packet instructions.
- Pour the water into the breadcrumbs and set aside.
- Take the pork and cut it into large chunks, then either chop into a 5mm dice or grind in a meat grinder with a 5-8mm plate.
- Add the seasoning to the pork along with the breadcrumbs and combine them together.
- Thread the sausage skins onto a sausage nozzle, ensuring you make appropriately childish jokes.
- Fill the sausage skins tying off at the start and finish.
- Curl a sausage to the same size as your cooking pan, this recipe will make two large sausage spirals so freeze one for another time.
- Place a sausage spiral in cast iron pan or heavy based pan and roast in the oven at 200°C or 400°F for 25 minutes.
For the Gravy:
- Heat the dripping or lard in a pan and add the sliced onion, this is best done without using a non stick pan
- Cook over a medium heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.
- When the onions are a nice rich colour add the butter and the flour and stir.
- Pour in the beef stock and add the Worcestershire sauce and mustard, stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
For the Mash:
- Peel and cut the potatoes to an even size and then bring to a boil in well-salted water.
- Boil for 25-30 minutes and then allow to steam dry for a minute or two.
- Gently heat the cream.
- Either mash or pass your potatoes through a potato ricer, I prefer the latter.
- Add the warmed cream and butter then stir being careful not to overwork.
For the Peas:
- Boil your frozen peas for 2-3 minutes in salted water.
Notes
This recipe will make two 24cm Cumberland sausage spirals.
They freeze wonderfully and can also be broken down into single link sausages although a traditional Cumberland sausage is sold by length rather than in links.
The calorific value of this recipe refers to a single portion of the sausage, mash and onion gravy meal and not the extra sausages we get to freeze up!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1303Total Fat: 67gSaturated Fat: 32gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 29gCholesterol: 265mgSodium: 4261mgCarbohydrates: 104gFiber: 12gSugar: 13gProtein: 72g
Dave Big Chief
Tuesday 16th of February 2021
These tasted more like a Lincolnshire sausages. I think there is too much sage for a Cumberland, in my humble opinion. Looking at the Protected Food designation there should be Thyme and Sage.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fd34f62d3bf7f306291b59f/pfn-cumberland-sausage-pgi.pdf
joe pulkowski
Saturday 23rd of January 2021
I made this today, I love the balance of the spices, but I will cut the salt in half next time, my Mother taught me when making sausage, add the spices, mix, make a little patty and fry, then add more spice if needed before stuffing.
Brian Jones
Wednesday 27th of January 2021
Glad you liked it, testing is a hint in my other two sausage recipes, no idea why it is not in here, it's the best part of sausage making, I'll add it back in :D
Caroline
Monday 17th of August 2020
I found this looking for a seasoning recipe. Looks great and one of these days I will make an attempt. Regarding mash, here in Northern Ireland we would often want scallion champ with our sausages. With lots of butter. We’ll save the Ulster Fry discussion for another day.
Brian Jones
Saturday 29th of August 2020
I love making my own sausages, and this is one of my favourite versions so I hope you try it sometime. I like both champ and colcannon but less so with me bangers lol. As for the Ulster fry, I could live off black pudding, potato bread and soda bread so I am all in!
Barbara Gilbert
Saturday 1st of February 2020
Hi, I live in the USA and am not familiar with the meat cut in your list of ingredients. Is pork blade like pork shoulder or butt? My husband makes sausage from the venison he gets while hunting but I’d rather follow your recipe for sausages. Thank you!
Brian Jones
Monday 3rd of February 2020
Hey Barbara, the blade is part of the shoulder, it is the tope part near the neck and it has the most wonderful fat. You can use regular shoulder and if it is not fatty enough add a bit of belly.
Have fun :)
Elaine
Saturday 18th of May 2019
Thanks looks delicious. Sadly we do not eat Pork. Any other suggestions .
Thank you.
Brian Jones
Saturday 18th of May 2019
Now that's a challenge... Pork works so well in sausage because of the fat content, having said that you can make sausages with anything that you want. The flavours in a traditional Cumberland sausage would work well with chicken, although not so much with beef or lamb, but you would need to add in some fat to stop them drying out. I have never tried it but I think my first choice would be a little beef tallow or dripping depending where you are from. It will add a meaty flavour and moisten the sausage, just mince it with the chicken, I'd suggest thighs and I'd probably start at around 10% of the weight of the chicken.
HAve an experiment, I'd love to hear how you get on!
Brian