A saveloy is a type of highly seasoned
sausage, usually bright red, normally boiled and available in most
fish and chip shops around
England. It is occasionally also available fried in
batter
Batter or batters may refer to:
Common meanings
* Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan
* Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher
* Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting
* Batter ...
.
Etymology
The word is believed to be derived from
Middle French or , originating from
Old Italian ('pigs brains'), ultimately from the
Latin ('brain'). Its first known use in the English language in this meaning was 1784. is still the name of a sausage in Italy; it is longer and thinner than standard Italian sausages.
Ingredients
Although the saveloy was traditionally made from pork brains, the ingredients of a shop-bought sausage are typically
pork (58%),
water,
rusk,
pork fat,
potato starch,
salt, emulsifiers (
tetrasodium diphosphate,
disodium diphosphate),
white pepper, spices, dried sage, preservatives (
sodium nitrite,
potassium nitrate), and beef
collagen
Collagen () is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix found in the body's various connective tissues. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole ...
casing.
The saveloy is mostly eaten with
chips.
England
Popular in the
North East of England, saveloys are sometimes eaten in a "Saveloy Dip" sandwich: the bun is dipped in the water which the saveloy is boiled in or in
gravy, with a layer of
stuffing and
pease pudding, additionally seasoned with
English mustard. In the rest of England it is most commonly eaten from fish and chip shops.
Australia and New Zealand
The saveloy is eaten in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
New Zealand, often sold at fairs,
fête
In Britain and some of its former colonies, fêtes are traditional public festivals, held outdoors and organised to raise funds for a charity. They typically include entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments.
Village fêtes
Village fà ...
s, agricultural shows and sporting events, served deep fried in batter, and known as a battered sav. At the turn of the
20th century
The 20th (twentieth) century began on
January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...
, the saveloy was described in an Australian court case as a "highly seasoned dry sausage originally made of brains, but now young pork, salted" but by the mid-century, it was commonly defined by its size as a sausage, as opposed to a frankfurter at . This distinction may be due to the frankfurter's popularisation (as an ingredient of
hot dogs), which tend to have less seasoning and are thinner.
Despite "frankfurter" sausage makers being the target of violence in
World War I, the story that saveloys were once frankfurters, renamed due to
anti-German sentiment, is purely apocryphal, as far as Australia is concerned.
In Australia, saveloys are usually a beef-pork blend. In New Zealand, saveloys are usually a lamb-pork-beef blend (which distinguishes them from
frankfurter
Frankfurter may refer to:
* Various varieties of sausage
** Frankfurter Würstchen
** Frankfurter Rindswurst
** Vienna sausage, or also called a ''Frankfurter Würstel'' in Austria
** Hot dog, a fully cooked sausage, traditionally grilled or steam ...
s which are a pork-beef blend). As in England, they are sold at fish-and-chip shops, and bought to be simmered at home. Saveloys are known colloquially in both countries as "savs". They are often the basis of the New Zealand battered-sausage-on-a-stick "hot dog", equivalent to a US
corn dog, often sold at fairgrounds and public events. The Australian version is often called a "dagwood dog" or "pluto pup". Another Australian variant, the "
battered sav", while not as common as it once was, used wheat flour batter with no corn in the mixture and, like its English counterpart, was sold in fish-and-chip shops and had no stick.
In
South Australia and
Tasmania, up to at least the early 1980's, the "sav and roll" was popular
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
fare especially at country matches; it was a saveloy heated in a wood-fired "copper" (boiler), placed in a split bread roll, and liberally covered with tomato sauce.
A cocktail sausage is a smaller version of the saveloy, about a quarter of the size; in Australia sometimes called a "baby sav", a "footy frank" or a "little boy", and in New Zealand and
Queensland called a "cheerio". These are a popular children's party food in New Zealand and Australia, often served hot, with tomato sauce.
United States
A type of hot dog which is almost indistinguishable from the saveloy is popular in the state of
Maine, where it is commonly known as a "red hot" or "red snapper".
In popular culture
In ''
The Pickwick Papers'' (Chapter LV) Solomon Pell, an attorney at the Insolvent Court, is described as "regaling himself, business being rather slack, with a cold collation of an
Abernethy biscuit and a saveloy".
Saveloy is also eaten by
Fagin in ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
'' and it also appears in the 1968
musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
based on the novel, directed by
Carol Reed, when it is mentioned in the number "
Food, Glorious Food".
A saveloy is passed from
Paul McGann's character (I) to Withnail and subsequently to Danny in
Bruce Robinson's
1987 film ''
Withnail and I''.
The phrase "oi oi saveloy" is sometimes used in the United Kingdom as a greeting.
See also
*
Battered sausage
*
List of sausages
This is a list of notable sausages. Sausage is a food usually made from ground meat with a skin around it. Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made from intestine, but sometimes synthetic. Some sausages are cooked durin ...
References
External links
{{Sausage
Australian sausages
British sausages
Cooked sausages
New Zealand sausages