Bangers and Mash

Hey Alicia here again with another Irish recipe from our culinary adventure. You can read about my experimenthere. 

This has been such a fun experiment, especially learning about dishes that our ancestors may have eaten. We just got my husband'sDNA results back, so it has opened up more opportunities for us to experiment with food and culture.

For our Irish meal this week we had Bangers and Mash. In researching this, it's not a dish exclusive to Ireland or Irish in origin (as far as I can tell).  And this dish is the only instance in which you would hear a sausage referred to as a "Banger." In Ireland and England sausages are called sausages.

​It's a simple but quite delicious meal.

Bangers and Mash

The meal consists of a pork sausage, mashed potatoes, and an onion gravy.

The pork sausage has to have at least 20% filler in order to get the right consistency. Fillers include eggs and breadcrumbs. The name banger comes from during WWI when the sausages contained a bit more water. They would burst while cooking them and make a "bang" sound. 

These sausages can be hard to find in the USA. But I found a pack from a company called SAAG's that said they were "British style bangers." 

They're precooked so I was a little iffy on them. So I also bought some bratwurst just in case. But they actually browned up nicely and had a nice taste. I thought it was a mild form of a breakfast sausage. Not quite as spicy. I got them at my local grocery store. Unfortunately, they are sold out on Amazon, and the next cheapest option you have to pay $26 in shipping. So if these aren't in your local store, brats will work. It's got to be a pork sausage, with a thin casing and mild seasonings, so the pork flavor shines through. 

The potatoes are pretty straight forward mashed potatoes except they have added a bit of mustard powder which gives a nice subtle flavor. The gravy has no thickener added to it and will be more like a jus than a traditional gravy.

I was really impatient and didn't reduce my gravy enough so it was very liquidy but still very tasty!

To come up with my recipe, I research the dish and a few different recipes from Irish people who ate Bangers and Mash on the regular. 

This dish is so simple but packs big flavor. I love it. I mean can you go wrong with pork and potatoes?

Bangers and Mash

Let us know if you try it out! It could be a good one for St Patrick's Day. Or try my recipe for Irish Bacon and Cabbage Pie!