Pork Sausage Rolls - Advice Please

Yorky

Yorky

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I'm planning to attempt cooking sausage rolls in the near future (first time). I intend to used pork, sage and onion for the "filling".

Should I cook (or semi cook) the minced pork first before wrapping it in the pastry?
 
I never have done: I just wrap the sausage meat in the pastry when raw and bake it all together.

Though if you're adding onions then I think these would need cooking first - unless you like the idea of fairly raw, crunchy onions in your sausage roll? I'd suggest sweating the onions off first until they are soft, and then cooling them before mixing them in with your raw meat and herbs.

If you are making your own sausage meat from scratch then don't forget to use fatty cuts of pork (a mix of belly and shoulder is traditional), and make sure you add some breadcrumbs (around 5-10% of the weight of meat is usually about right).
 
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MrsDangermouse said:
I never have done: I just wrap the sausagemeat in the pastry when raw and bake it all together.

Though if you're adding onions then I think these would need cooking first - unless you like the idea of fairly raw, crunchy onions in your sausage roll? I'd suggest sweating the onions off first until they are soft, and then cooling them before mixing them in with your raw meat and herbs.

If you are making your own sausagemeat from scratch then don't forget to use fatty cuts of pork (a mix of belly and shoulder is traditional), and make sure you add some breadcrumbs (around 5-10% of the weight of meat is usually about right).
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This is roughly the ingredients that I was intending to use.

https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/pork-sage-and-onion-stuffing.13978/

Before the onions and garlic are added to the pork they are minced and fried for about 5 minutes. I add two normal size slices of bread crumbed to 200 gms pork.
 
That sounds delicious :okay:
Based on that stuffing recipe, to get the right texture I'd say leave out the egg and probably most of the bread.....stuffing has a different texture to sausage, and especially in a sausage roll you want the meat to stay fairly soft.
So sweat off your onions and garlic, let them cool to room temp before adding to your ground meat, herbs and seasoning. Mix until combined, but don't over mix as you don't want the meat to get too tough. Depending on what cut of meat you're using, you may want to add some extra fat - I would use lard, but I don't know if its available for you?

Are you making individual sausage rolls or large ones? For individual ones we were taught to roll out the puff pastry into a very long thin rectangle. Make a sausage of your meat and lay it lengthwise along the pastry, before rolling the pastry around the meat and sealing the join with egg wash. You end up with one really long, very thin sausage roll which you then you cut up into individual sausage rolls before brushing the outside with egg wash and baking.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
That sounds delicious :okay:
Based on that stuffing recipe, to get the right texture I'd say leave out the egg and probably most of the bread.....stuffing has a different texture to sausage, and especially in a sausage roll you want the meat to stay fairly soft.
So sweat off your onions and garlic, let them cool to room temp before adding to your ground meat, herbs and seasoning. Mix until combined, but don't over mix as you don't want the meat to get too tough. Depending on what cut of meat you're using, you may want to add some extra fat - I would use lard, but I don't know if its available for you?

Are you making individual sausage rolls or large ones? For individual ones we were taught to roll out the puff pastry into a very long thin rectangle. Make a sausage of your meat and lay it lengthwise along the pastry, before rolling the pastry around the meat and sealing the join with egg wash. You end up with one really long, very thin sausage roll which you then you cut up into individual sausage rolls before brushing the outside with egg wash and baking.
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I hadn't really thought yet about the size of them but it (or they) will need to fit in my halogen oven.

There appears to be plenty of fat in the mince (we bought it from the superstore) so I don't think that it needs any more. There is also carrot and mushroom in it (they didn't have plain today) but it's minimal so I can't see it being a problem.

It'll probably be Sunday before I get round to it.

Thanks for the advice.
 
I'd probably go with a savory stuffing with sage, apples, onion, celery, herbed bread cubes and unsalted chicken stock to moisten, S&P to taste. Precooked and cooled. You could also make a "Fatty" and just not smoke it.
 
CraigC said:
I'd probably go with a savory stuffing with sage, apples, onion, celery, herbed bread cubes and unsalted chicken stock to moisten, S&P to taste. Precooked and cooled. You could also make a "Fatty" and just not smoke it.
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Sounds interesting - what is a "Fatty"?

I've never seen a sausage roll where the sausage meat was cooked before baking it (again) in the pastry....I can't see how that could work without the meat drying out? Plus you also need the meat fat and juices to melt into the pastry on the bottom whilst cooking (the pastry on the bottom should be dense and meaty, and the pastry on the top light and crispy.

Personally I'm not sure that using stuffing instead of sausage meat would work in a sausage roll....stuffing tends to have a lot of bread in it so it would be far too bready (especially combined with the pastry)...ideally you want a good balance between the meaty sausage filling and the flaky pastry outside.

In the UK sausage rolls are taken rather seriously......by law the sausage part of the sausage roll must contain at least 42 per cent meat (though personally I'd be wanting a better quality sausage than that, nicer ones are around 70% and above). Even our Christmas number one this year was an homage to the good old sausage roll :okay:
 
MrsDangermouse said:
Sounds interesting - what is a "Fatty"?

I've never seen a sausage roll where the sausage meat was cooked before baking it (again) in the pastry....I can't see how that could work without the meat drying out? Plus you also need the meat fat and juices to melt into the pastry on the bottom whilst cooking (the pastry on the bottom should be dense and meaty, and the pastry on the top light and crispy.

Personally I'm not sure that using stuffing instead of sausage meat would work in a sausage roll....stuffing tends to have a lot of bread in it so it would be far too bready (especially combined with the pastry)...ideally you want a good balance between the meaty sausage filling and the flaky pastry outside.

In the UK sausage rolls are taken rather seriously......by law the sausage part of the sausage roll must contain at least 42 per cent meat (though personally I'd be wanting a better quality sausage than that, nicer ones are around 70% and above). Even our Christmas number one this year was an homage to the good old sausage roll :okay:
Click to expand...

https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/making-a-fatty.11380/
 
MrsDangermouse said:
Personally I'm not sure that using stuffing instead of sausage meat would work in a sausage roll....stuffing tends to have a lot of bread in it so it would be far too bready (especially combined with the pastry)...ideally you want a good balance between the meaty sausage filling and the flaky pastry outside.
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I tend to agree with this.
 
You'd think you'd need to precook the filling, but that wasn't the case for the chicken sausage rolls I made recently. I think precooking the filling could leave you with a dry filling. Likewise, I only used a tablespoon of breadcrumbs for the 2 pounds of chicken I started with in the recipe...significantly less than most recipes. But, this meant that it was all about the meat. My filling was chicken, and I lived to tell the tale.

img_1201-jpg.jpg
 
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Yorky said:
I'm planning to attempt cooking sausage rolls in the near future (first time). I intend to used pork, sage and onion for the "filling".

Should I cook (or semi cook) the minced pork first before wrapping it in the pastry?
Click to expand...

What came to mind was sausage egg rolls. I would brown the onion, cook and drain the pork fat first, skip the egg and bread.

https://www.bunsinmyoven.com/sausage-egg-rolls/
 
Karen W said:
What came to mind was sausage egg rolls. I would brown the onion, cook and drain the pork fat first, skip the egg and bread.

https://www.bunsinmyoven.com/sausage-egg-rolls/
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Mine worked without precooking the filling because I trimmed the chicken so it was incredibly lean. I don't know what would happen if I had a fatty pork sausage inside a puff pastry.
 
OK, this is my first shot. I only cooked one. I did not add egg to the mixture.

1 s.jpg

The sausage was not cooked enough for me and the pastry would have burnt if I'd have cooked it longer. That was 5 minutes at 200 degC and 10 minutes at 180 degC. Halogen oven, lower rack. I think my next experiment will be to stir fry the pork mixture for a few minutes before forming the roll.
 
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