A sausage roll is a savoury dish, popular in current and former

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

nations, consisting of sausage meat wrapped in

puff pastry Puff pastry, also known as , is a light, flaky pastry, its base dough () composed of wheat flour and water. Butter or other solid fat () is then layered into the dough. The dough is repeatedly rolled and folded, rested, re-rolled and folded, encas ...

. Although variations are known throughout Europe and in other regions, the sausage roll is most closely associated with

British cuisine British cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom, including the regional cuisines of English cuisine, England, Scottish cuisine, Scotland, Welsh cuisine, Wales, and Northern Irish cuisine, Nort ...

Composition

The basic composition of a sausage roll is sheets of

formed into tubes around

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

meat and glazed with egg or milk before being baked. They can be served either hot or cold. In the 19th century, they were made using

shortcrust pastry Shortcrust is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken pie. ...

instead of puff pastry. A vegetarian or vegan approximation of a sausage roll can be made in the same manner, using a

meat substitute A meat alternative or meat substitute (also called plant-based meat, mock meat, or alternative protein), is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qual ...

Sales

In the UK, the bakery chain Greggs sells around 2.5 million sausage rolls per week, or around 140 million per year.

History

The wrapping of meat or other foodstuffs into dough can be traced back to the Classical Greek or Roman eras. Early versions of the roll with pork as a filling proved popular in London during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and it became identified as an English dish. On 20 September 1809, the ''Bury and Norwich Post'' mentions T. Ling, aged 75, (an industrious vendor of saloop, buns, and sausage rolls). ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' first mentions the food item in 1864 when William Johnstone, "

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

pork pie A pork pie is a traditional English meat pie, usually served either at room temperature or cold (although often served hot in Yorkshire). It consists of a filling of roughly chopped pork and pork fat, surrounded by a layer of jellied pork stock ...

manufacturer and sausage roll maker", was fined £15 (£ in 2021), under the Nuisances Removal Act (Amendment) Act 1863, for having on his premises a large quantity of meat unsound, unwholesome and unfit for food. In 1894, a theft case provided further insights into the Victorian sausage roll production whereby the accused apprentice was taught to soak brown bread in

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, and pepper to give the appearance of beef sausage for the filling.

National variants

Similar meat and pastry recipes include the Czech '' klobásník'', the Belgian ''worstenbroodje'', the Dutch ''saucijzenbroodje'', the German ''Münsterländer Wurstbrötchen'' and sausage bread in the United States. Hong Kong has developed its own style of sausage roll. Instead of having sausage meat wrapped in puff pastry like the traditional western style, the Hong Kong style "sausage bun" (Chinese: 腸仔包) consists of a sausage wrapped inside a soft milk bread style bun.

In popular culture

* The 1896

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

operetta '' The Grand Duke'' features sausage rolls as a plot device, where conspirators recognise one another by eating sausage rolls. *From 2018 to 2022, English YouTuber LadBaby had five consecutive Christmas number ones on the UK Singles Chart with

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of songs where the lyrics were rewritten to reference sausage rolls, including " I Love Sausage Rolls", " Don't Stop Me Eatin'", and " Sausage Rolls for Everyone".

References

External links

Sausage Roll recipe - BBC Food website

Sausage Roll recipe - taste.com.au
{{Dutch cuisine British snack foods Fast food Sausage dishes Street food Australian cuisine British cuisine Dutch cuisine French cuisine German cuisine New Zealand cuisine