James Whelan Butchers: Breaking the Rules

Who remembers the ‘mixed grill’?  There wasn’t a fashionable restaurant in the land that didn’t carry a mixed grill on its menu back in the 1970s.  It was usually a combination of pork; be it chops, rashers or sausages but, somehow it managed to be evening food rather than breakfast as we’ve come to expect it today.  Sausages, rashers, chops and fried vegetables shouldn’t be confined to the morning.  These are great versatile and quick items that should always be in the fridge to cover any meal emergency.

One of my favourite comfort food dishes has to be Toad in the Hole.  It never went off my radar, but has recently been resurrected and the toad pops up in many places these days from cookery shows to glossy food magazines.  For the uninitiated, Toad in the Hole is an English dish of sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter and if made properly can be comfort food heaven.  Bangers and Mash is popular again and turns up with a fashionable sprig of rosemary here or a handful of coriander there, but it’s still just sausage, creamy mash and gravy.

Toad in the Hole

Sausages and rashers are very versatile but I have to urge you to buy the best quality and Irish at that; trust me you will notice the difference.  Whether you are using them on their own or as part of a more complex dish, you just can’t skimp on price and get a good quality product.  In doing so you are cheating yourself out of a proper taste experience.

While I love having these items to hand for a quick sandwich or a cooked breakfast they provide so many ideas for the cook.  Rashers work well in pasta dishes or added to beef stews or a Ragu sauce for flavour.   I have often used a few sausages for stuffing when I haven’t had sausage meat to hand.  Chopped small, sausages and rashers enliven a dull omelette which is basically a combined cooked breakfast, but eaten at lunch or suppertime with a dollop of cream cheese on the side it can be quite the treat.  Then there are the more complicated baked sausages in mustard and Toad in the Hole often served with ‘busy’ mash.  I use the word ‘busy’ because few chefs can leave mash alone these days.  They have to snip in some chives or throw in a pinch of cumin or hide some cheese in there.  Stop playing with the mash, all it needs is butter and plenty of it!  Finally the only thing for pork is onion gravy and getting that right is crucial.   I think you have to give the onions plenty of time to cook and caramelise to really pull out the full flavour.

For many years butchers made their own sausages.  The general idea, shape and size were the same but obviously the taste varied slightly.  At James Whelan Butchers we have a secret recipe for our award winning sausages.  When a James Whelan Butcher is deemed ready, and it takes many, many years of service, we reveal the “secret of the sausage to him” in a grand ceremony in the cold room!  (Regular readers will know that I’m joking of course, but we do make excellent sausages to our own specific recipe.)  You won’t find a James Whelan Butchers’ sausage anywhere else and I’ll personally stand over the quality, the texture and the taste.  While many like the challenge of making their own, there are such good sausages available to buy that it seems an unnecessary and painstaking task.   I would also urge you to try one of our sausage variations such as the Italian sausage available at the shop.  This combines pork mince with a blend of spices and herbs to give an authentic taste of the Mediterranean.   These are great served with pasta or cooked on the BBQ.Italian Sausages

Mind you, whatever kind of sausage you are after it can be easily found today.  From the oily Spanish chorizo that works so well in many dishes to the firm Frankfurter or plump and juicy traditional Irish pork sausage, there are a myriad of inexpensive dishes to prepare.  Try as many as you can.  Some you’ll love and others will be too spicy, too chewy, too gritty or too smoky; but you’ll never know until you try and don’t just resign the more unusual ones to pizza toppings and buffet platters.  Heat them in a pan and see what happens or mix them with some other ingredients or try them cold.  I am very confident that cooked with a little style and given some respect bangers and mash could have them dancing in the aisles and asking for seconds but you have to stick to the rules:

1.  Buy the best possible sausages you can get your hands on. (Butchers are probably your best bet.)

2. Master the art of onion gravy and, whatever the recipe says cut the onions big and coarse.

3. Leave the mash alone – smooth and naked but for a butter lake is all the perfection needed. 

Also drop by the James Whelan Butchers Website where there are plenty of recipes for all times of the day.

We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of  James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin. Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers

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