Bonkers. But delicious. The suet from the mincemeat, along with the butterfat make these sausages very moist, whilst the fruit and the brandy give them a sophistication that helps to elevate them out of the novelty category. Given that Santa and his band of merry reindeer have buggered off for the rest of the year, they also make a great way of using up any leftover mincemeat.
Start with a 60/40 mixture of minced belly and shoulder. Add two big spoonfuls of mincemeat and a spoon of brandy butter. Then add a glug of brandy. Mix together with some salt, pepper and breadcrumbs until the consistency feel sausagey.
Then pump into some natural casings and leave to rest overnight. Create mini links and serve to unsuspecting friends as mini mince pie sausages on the end of cocktail sticks.
We ate these after a long walk in the frosty Somerset countryside with a cup of tea. To my delight the idea turned out to be far less hair-brained than I had feared. The sausages were moist, sticky, full of festive flavour and universally approved of. The stewed fruit led Cowie to think they tasted like Devils on Horseback. So if you’re keen to use up your mince meat the last dregs of brandy butter, spare them the pastry treatment and ram them inside some pigs intestine.
Gareth from Bibendum suggests quaffing some rich Alsatian Pinot Gri with these, whereas Fiona thought they’d go down a storm with Tawny Port or off-dry Amontillado.
Top photo is from kyz on Flickr via creative commons.
This is part of a series of posts about experimental sausages and a potential sausage-fest
12 comments:
Sausage cravings for weeks now. Way too lazy to make my own but Mr Waitrose has benefited enormously over your last few posts.
And then you go and do 'sweet' ones...?
God damn you...sausage man!
mmm...I can imagine the savour of it - must be so good. :)
I do enjoy mincemeat (perhaps back to my British roots)and I love a good banger.
I am swooning in front of my monitor here. They sound incredible. Where can I get this sausage making caboodle?
@Style Scanner - Glad to hear that Waitrose have done well out of my sausage posts! Sadly you won't find any mince pie sausages in any supermarkets... because they are too good.
@The Cooking Ninja - So good.
@Bellini Valli - Glad to hear you love a good banger. There are few things better.
@Sarah, Maison Cupcake - Love the fact that you are swooning. You can buy sausage makers online I think...
Hooray, I've been waiting for you to post this. I have leftover sweet mincemeat and I'm newly obsessed with putting the meat back into mincemeat so this could be the sausage for me. Looks great.
These look fantastic and again my jealousy knows no bounds
oooh these look great! I have leftover mince meat too, but alas, no sossidge maker. Perhaps lobbing it in some sort of tagine with pork might work too...
Loving the sausage posts. Have had to go to Ginger Pig to buy some to tide me over!
Still drooling over the pig's cheeks from last night too - thanks for the inspiration!
@ginandcrumpets - "Putting the meat back into mincemeat". Love it. This is the dream sausage.
@Gourmet Chick - Glad to have sparked some jealousy!
@Lizzie - These would be amazing in a tagine. Super idea. Or as mincepie burgers...
@TC - Glad to hear the pigs cheeks worked out well. I'm going to invent a new pig cheek recipe over the weekend...
This is absolutely inspired! I can see where Cowie is coming from with the devils on horseback. You really are turning out some banging bangers.
@Helen - Thanks. Maybe sausage fest can have an award for the most banging banger?
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