The best bangers to eat this National BBQ Week
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Newmarket is the home of horse breeding and thoroughbred racing. It’s also the home of sausage-making and thoroughbred bangers, and therefore the go-to place for National BBQ week.
The royal households have been getting their bangers from Suffolk for over 100 years and doubtless William and Kate have placed their order for this week. Founded in 1884, Musk’s of Newmarket received its first Royal Warrant as supplier of pork products in 1907 to King George V (then the Prince of Wales). Four more warrants followed. The secret recipe, first assembled on Sketchworth Farm, is still used today.
The Newmarket Sausage was granted a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status in 2012. Powter’s (1881) and Eric Tennant (1985) are the other famous local master sausage-makers.
The best bangers are a wise investment if you’re into BBQS. Pickering’s of Norwich produces low salt, no synthetic skin, 100 per cent natural pig gut sausages such as Gamekeeper’s (venison, caramelized onion and local ale) and the Norwich Sausage (pork blended with Wild Norfolk Ale and Colman’s Mustard). Taunton’s Sausage Shed offers treats like Scrumpy Joe’s, Marmite ‘N’ Mature Cheddar and Marmalade Pork
British sausages stand up to any sausage in the world. An artfully seasoned pulverized Gloucester Old Spot shoulder and belly can knock the spots off anything continental.
Opened by Peter Heanen in 1972, HJ Walter of Baron’s Court is one of London’s most respected butchers selling everything from onglet and tomahawk steaks to beef marrow troughs and fennel and chili sausages. Its highest quality meat is sourced predominantly from small farms rearing free-range native breeds, such as Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle and Hampshire Duroc pigs. Its luxury BBQ boxes range from £65-110. Delivery is nationwide.
Gloucestershire wine merchants Haynes, Hanson and Clark recommend a Santenay Burgundy Pinot Noir to pair nicely with bone marrow, and a slightly chilled Beaujolais with spicy Merguez. Butchers who admit to being wine connoisseurs will point you toward a Chenin Blanc – perhaps a Morgenhof from Waitrose Cellar – to pair with pork and leek sausages.
If you buy your sausages in a supermarket, pick up some Galway Shiraz (Waitrose, £12.99) or some Chilean Leyda Reserva Shiraz (Co-op, £10). Majestic offers Louis Latour’s sausage-complementary Southern Rhone Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir. Bottles of Sangre de Torso should also always be near your grilling stage.
David Rundel’s The Sausage Man UK was launched in 2005 and from humble roots with a single mobile catering van in Lewisham Market, it has become a national supplier. VW Currywurst should be paired with Moschd Up apple wine, while their Bratwurst XXL goes nicely with Engel Keller Pils.
The UK’s regions produce as many distinct sausages as they do artisanal gins. The peppery, spiral Cumberland sausage is usually sold by length (although we don’t hold the record for the longest. That would be Romania, which not long ago produced the world’s lengthiest sausage at just under 40 miles); Gloucester is sage-forward; the Manchester is herby; the Marylebone is all mace and ginger; the Oxford is full of sage, marjoram, lemon and veal. In the West Country, they churn out traditional sausages that are moist with lots of apple. A Yorkshire is spiced with nutmeg, cayenne, white pepper and mace. In Scotland, the pork and beef Lorne (from its birthplace in Argyll) is square and sliced. Northumberland, meanwhile, is heavy on cracked black pepper.
The British banger has come a long way since Jonathan Meades famously called them “condoms filled with slurry”. Pulverizing meat is an art and so is eating it – make sure you partake this National BBQ Week.