Bangers & Mash with Onion Gravy

 Updated with gravy recipe and one new photo 4/5/22

 

This is a common dish in England and other parts of the United Kingdom. It seems the name "bangers" came to be used as a slang term for sausages in the World War One era in Britain, as meat shortages led to the use of more water and other fillers (grains or bread) in the production of sausages. When fried or grilled, the sausages would often burst with a "bang." Some people prick the sausages with a fork or a knife to prevent them from bursting, while to people with a more traditionalist side, such a thing is heresy. Besides "Bangers and Mash," there are some interesting names for food in British English, with "Bubble and Squeak" being another,* as well as, "Toad in the Hole."** I dare say, few Americans would know what these names mean in more recent times, especially as there aren't many men and women still around from the days when they may have been stationed in Britain during World War Two and they likely heard these names used.   

 

 

This is not really a recipe, as such, but rather the serving of three distinct parts, each of which can be readily obtained in prepared forms in supermarkets: mashed potatoes available in refrigerated sections, gravy available in jars or cans, and sausages available in already cooked form in refrigerated sections, sometimes in packages, but sometimes available at a per sausage price in deli sections or at butcher shops. In this case, you would simply need to heat the sausages, chop some onion and saute it until it's softened and browned at least somewhat, add the gravy to the onions and heat it through, heat the mashed potatoes according to the package instructions and you're ready to eat. Of course you can make your own mashed potatoes the way you like them, make your own onion gravy, and you can buy uncooked sausages, unless you like making sausages and stuffing them into natural casings.

My suggestion for 4 servings is that you buy uncooked or precooked sausages. You can use whatever kind of sausage you like, but pork sausage is traditional. In a skillet, heat about a tablespoon of oil and fry 4 sausages over low heat. Cook them until they are well heated through (especially if using uncooked sausages) and lightly browned (they will be reheated again, read on). Remove the sausages to a plate and add 2 chopped or sliced onions to the skillet. You can up the heat to medium. Cook the onions until softened, but it is nice to have the onions browned a bit for more flavor. Stir pork gravy mix into 2 cups of water (or follow the gravy mix instructions on the package). Add the gravy to the onions and mix well. Bring the onion gravy to a simmer, add the sausages to the gravy, and take the heat back to low. In the meantime, if making your own mashed potatoes, peel and dice some potatoes, put them into a pan, add a sprinkle of salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until softened, but not mushy. Drain the potatoes WELL, add some butter and mash the potatoes a little with a fork, potato masher or the beaters of an electric mixer (it doesn't have to be turned on, at this point). Microwave some milk until it is just warm (I use canned milk), then add it a little at a time to the potatoes as you mash them well (if using a mixer, now you need to have it on). Keep control of how much milk you add to prevent the potatoes from being runny. Add and mix in salt to taste, and pepper, if desired.  


Ingredients (4 servings):

4 sausages (pork or beef)
1 tablespoon oil 
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced (can be large dice)
5 tablespoons butter
"about" 4 to 6 ounces canned (evaporated) milk
salt to taste
(optional) black pepper to taste
2 chopped or sliced onions
2 cups water with gravy mix, or store bought prepared gravy***

* "Bubble and Squeak" originated in the 1800s in England as a way to use leftover meat and vegetables, which were cooked with mashed potatoes, causing a "squeaking" sound as it was cooking. In more recent times, while leftovers are still often used, the dish is also made fresh.

** "Toad in the Hole" is a dish of sausages in a Yorkshire Pudding dough. Here is the link to the article about "Toad in the Hole:" https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2021/02/english-toad-in-hole-sausages-in-pudding.html

*** I did the above article to keep things simple and relatively quick, but if you don't mind taking your time, this is a good recipe for onion gravy; so if you try it, you won't need the gravy mix and procedure mentioned above, but to be quite honest, it is very much dependent upon using good beef stock, and I'm not saying that you necessarily need to make the stock yourself, as there are some decent store bought brands. To be blunt though, if you're just going to use soup base, you just as well stick with the gravy mix in the main article.

Ingredients: 

 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups beef stock

1 1/2 tablespoons thick ketchup

1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire

1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, according to preference

Add the oil and butter to a pan over medium heat, add the onions and cook, stirring often, but no need to stir continuously, until the onions soften, about 5 to 6 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir it in, reduce the heat slightly and continue to cook for about 2 minutes, to remove the raw flour taste. Add the stock, ketchup, Worcestershire and black pepper and bring the gravy to a steady simmer; turn the heat to low and simmer the gravy until thickened to your preference (about 3 to 5 minutes). 

 

 

WORD HISTORY: 
Shire-This word goes back to Indo European "sker," which meant, "to cut, to scrape," and it is distantly related to "scribe" and to "scribble," both of Latin derivation and borrowed by English, and more closely related to "shear," a word that goes back to the Germanic roots of English, and it is the first part of the compound "sheriff," initially "an official of a shire, now of a county." The Indo European form gave Old Germanic or West Germanic "skiro," which meant, "a division of land under a particular authority;" that is, "land cut up into areas of authority." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "scir," with the same general meaning. The spelling later changed to "shire," but its use for an official land division was replaced in England by "county," a word taken from French, as it was eventually established in England by the Normans, circa 1300. The word "shire," however, has lived on into the present in geographic names and it was even taken to the New World, as in "New Hampshire." German had "scira," with a similar meaning to its English cousin's original meaning, but unlike English, the German word has now died out, "apparently" as it has in other Germanic languages. Just a question: did the move of some Germanic dialects from the continental mainland to Briton as Anglo-Saxon (Old English) save the word "shire" from extinction?