Recipe > Mains
Bangers and Mash
Yeah, yeah everyone's favourite...I know it, you know it, even tiny tim knows it.
However please don't just plonk cumberland sausages on your plate, with regular mash day in to day out, year after year. Variety is what brings delight to this dish, try your specialty sausages and do different things with your mash.
A few of the types of banger readily available:
Venison and redcurrant
Lamb and apricot
Lamb and rosemary
Pork and chestnut
Pork and apple
Turkey and cranberry
Vegetarian mushroom and tarragon
Chicken and Lemon
Springbok and red wine
Beef and mustard....to name just a few, so put those nasty, pink, over-processed chunks of plasticine-pork in the waste and try something new. Chump.

I start my sausages in a saucepan, but I like to finish them in the oven which requires less attention (and means you don't have to bother pricking the sausages to prevent bursting, which occurs on contact with the higher temperatures of the frying pan)

Serves 4

Ingredients
16 x sausages of your choice
1 Tblsp olive oil

For the mash (regular mash)
675g / 1.5lbs potatoes
110g/ 4oz margarine/ butter
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

For the gravy:
1 Tblsp flour
250ml / 9fl oz stock of your choice
Salt, pepper and chopped herbs (optional)

Mise-en-Place:
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F
Peel and cut the potatoes into rough quarters

Method:
The sausages:
In a large frying pan;
Heat the oil
Add the sausages, cook for 1-2 minutes to allow the skin to brown (releasing important flavours), turn each sausage until it has browned on two or three sides
Place the frying pan in the oven (plastic handles? Transfer to roasting tray)
Cook for a further 5-8 minutes
To test if the sausages are cooked either:
Cut one sausage in half and visually check the flesh is cooked all the way through - still pink? Return to the oven
or
Insert a skewer into the sausage, leave for 15 seconds, pull out and lightly tap the skewer on the inside of your wrist, if the skewer is scalding hot, the sausage is done

Prepare the mash:
Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until soft and tender (When ready the potatoes should break easily apart between your fingers/ spoon.)
Drain then mash the potatoes with the margarine, add the salt and pepper to your taste

The gravy:
Remove the sausages from the pan
Add the flour to the fats and juices left in the pan
Stir over a moderate heat for 1 minute
Add the stock and increase the heat
Stir vigorously to remove any lumps
Season with salt and pepper

Adjust:
The mash:
Bland flavours: Add more margarine, salt and pepper
Too thick: Add a little milk or cream to thin down
Too thin and runny: Possibly a result of over boiling the potatoes, return the mash to the saucepan, place over the heat to allow water content to evaporate. Stir vigorously to prevent burning

The gravy:
Too thin: Continue to boil until liquid content reduces through evaporation
Too thick: Add more stock
Too bland: Add more stock, then again reduce down, as the liquid content reduces the ratio levels of the flavours will increase

Presentation:
Pipe, or spoon the mash in the centre of the plate
Arrange the sausages on top of the mash
Pour over the gravy
If you wish garnish with relevant herbs (Lamb and rosemary banger: use roasted rosemary. Pork and leek: deep fried leek etc)

Chef's Tip: What's with the oven?
Use the oven because its an easy option. Remember never make your job harder than it has to be. While the sausages are in the oven it gives you time to prepare other things; finish the mash or start work on your sweet.

Chef's insight:
The word 'sausage' derives from the latin word 'salsica' which in turn comes from the roman word for salted, 'salsus'. Salting the sausage meat was important as a means of preservative and incidentally caused reactions within the meat that helped to bind the sausage ingredients together

Science behind the dish : Why do bangers burst?
Bursting is a sign of poorly made or cheap sausages that have been made with too much water content. With the application of heat the liquids in the sausage change from a liquid state to a gas. If the sausage has a disproportionate amount of liquid the gases will force their way free, splitting the sausage casing.