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Bangers & Mash

During the year I spent living in Philadelphia when I was twenty-one, I enjoyed spending time at an Irish pub called The New Deck Tavern. They served consistent, reasonably-priced pub fare, including a famous dish in the U.K. called Bangers & Mash.
Bangers & Mash includes cooked sausages that are served atop steaming, buttery mashed potatoes, and covered in a rich gravy.
The recipe below serves roughly 4-6 people, depending on how hungry you are.

Ingredients

For the Gravy:

  • 2 cups fortified pork stock, (or your favorite type of collagen-heavy stock)
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 Tbsp corn starch
  • 2 Tbsp cold water
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp sherry vinegar
  • 4 Tbsp salted butter, (cut into small cubes and kept cold)
  • Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper, ( to taste)

For the Remaining Bangers & Mash Components:

  • 4 large russet potatoes, (peeled and cut into ½” chunks)
  • 12 Tbsp salted butter
  • ¼ cup heavy cream, (heated until it is warm)
  • Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper, (to taste)
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 6 pork sausages, (or any sausages of your liking)
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley, (finely sliced, as garnish)

Instructions 

For the Gravy:

  • Add 2 cups of collagen-heavy pork stock to a soup pot.
  • Turn the heat up to high, and bring the stock to a simmer.
  • Reduce heat to medium-low.
  • Add the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, fresh thyme, and fresh rosemary to the pot and whisk to combine.
  • In a small bowl, stir together 2 Tbsp corn starch and 2 Tbsp cold water, and mix until combined.
  • When the stock is simmering, whisk in the corn starch and water mixture into the stock, and note how the sauce thickens.
  • If you prefer a thicker sauce, make some more of the cornstarch and water mixture and add it to the stock.
  • Taste your thickened sauce, and stir in the honey and sherry vinegar.
  • Remove the sauce from the heat.
  • Stir in the 4 Tbsp of cold, cubed salted butter, while the sauce is off the heat.
  • Stir until the butter is completely melted into the sauce.
  • Taste, and season with kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
  • Add more honey or sherry vinegar if desired.
  • Gently warm up the sauce right before you are ready to serve.

For the Remaining Bangers & Mash Components:

  • Boil the peeled potato chunks in salted water until they are completely tender.
  • Drain the water from the potatoes, and return potatoes to the pot.
  • Mash the cooked potatoes with a potato masher, and fold in the salted butter and warmed heavy cream.
  • Taste the mashed potatoes, and season with kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
  • Set the warm mashed potatoes aside, covered with plastic wrap on the surface, until you are ready to serve.
  • For the sausages, heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in a large saute pan, and increase heat to medium.
  • Gently cook the pork sausages until they are golden brown on the outsides.
  • *Try to avoid cooking the sausages on high heat, as their casings can burst and the sausages can dry out.
  • When the sausages are finished, you are ready to serve your dish!
  • Add the mashed potatoes to the bottom of a large serving platter.
  • Arrange the cooked sausages on top of the mashed potatoes.
  • Pour some of the beautiful pork gravy that you made earlier on top of the mashed potatoes and sausages.
  • Garnish with the finely-sliced fresh parsley.

Notes

Make extra mashed potatoes, so you can have some for leftovers during the week.  You can use less butter, if you prefer a denser and less rich mashed potato product.  
People will sometimes serve this entrée with cooked green peas.