A love letter to butter
Glamorgan sausages recipe
I love butter. On toast and sarnies, to sauté veg, to make pastry or Welsh cakes, it enriches my life as well as my dishes. Don’t worry, I do eat and use it in moderation, but then that makes it all the more glorious when it dances across my palate.
I think it’s a bit of a welsh trait, to put butter on everything – like putting runny cream on any dessert, even cream-based ones. Perhaps it goes back to the farming nature of Wales and that as a country, we’ve always produced plentiful dairy products, from milk to cheese. This love of dairy has been passed through the generations and it’s easy to see why, when a stale bit of bread or a dry oatcake can be made instantly better with a scraping of salty butter, and a round of bread and butter is a good filler for any meal. It’s certainly a family trait – my Great Auntie Den will happily spread all-butter brioche with butter, and no helping of bara brith, Chelsea buns, or bread for dipping in soup is complete without a good slathering.
My mum has always been mindful of keeping us healthy though, and unlike parents of her parents’ generation, we (my brother and I) were never forced to finish everything on our plates if we felt like we'd had enough. Growing up, my Mum was busy working, looking after us and my grandparents, so she tended to cook for speed, ease and simplicity – plus I was a very fussy eater back in the day and only ate plain food (shocking, I know!). But there was – and is – one thing that Mum would never scrimp on when a dish called for it: butter – on which, I would offer, she is an expert. Wonderfully white bread toast, silky mashed potatoes, hot-from-the-grill teacakes, doorstep sandwiches of any kind, crackers pre-cheese, crumpets, crisp sandwiches, fiery peppercorn sauce – Mum knows (like all great chefs) that butter can elevate any dish.
I have tried to scale back my butter consumption as an adult – often switching my addiction to olive oil – but there are still those times when only a thick cheese-like layer of butter will do. For me, butter has to be creamy, it has to be salty (sorry Nigella) and there has to be lashings of it… in moderation.
The Recipe
Glamorgan sausages
To call it a Glamorgan sausage is a bit of a misnomer – certainly these days at any rate – being neither made from Glamorgan cheese nor containing any meat. It’s likely that this delightfully vegetarian sausage was originally the product of a scarcity of ingredients (or the price of meat) rather than it’s value as a meat-free alternative. They have been around for at least 160 years as they make an appearance in Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery (1862) by George Borrow, but many suggest a version of the Glamorgan sausage has been around much longer.
As I say, Glamorgan cheese sadly no longer exists as the particular breed of Glamorgan cattle was thought to have died out in the 1920s, that was until a small herd was found in Sussex in 1979, purchased in its entirety and brought to Margam Country Park in South Wales in the hopes of ensuring the breed’s survival.
As with any Welsh recipe, there are seemingly 101 ways to make Glamorgan sausages, but this is my version. I am not a huge fan of parsley (which appears in most traditional recipes) so I use tarragon instead, and trying to be a bit more health conscious, these are not deep-fried but cooked mostly in the oven.
Ingredients (makes 10 small or 6 large)
100g leeks, finely chopped
50g butter
100g breadcrumbs, plus extra for coating
100g Caerphilly cheese, grated (or a good tangy mature cheddar)
2tsp English mustard powder
1tsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1/2tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 free-range eggs
A little milk
Method
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180°C/350°F.
Gently melt half the butter in a small frying pan and sauté the leeks for a few minutes until softened but not browned. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, cheese, mustard powder, and herbs. Tip in the cooled leeks, season well, and stir to combine. Add one egg and a drop of milk and mix together to form a sort of soft dough. It shouldn’t be too wet as you need to shape it, but not so dry that it crumbles.
Take handfuls of the mix and shape into sausages or fingers – smaller ones are a little easier to keep together. Place in the fridge to chill for 10 mins.
Meanwhile, prepare three shallow dishes, one with the remaining egg beaten, one with flour and one with breadcrumbs.
Remove the sausages from the fridge. Roll each in the flour, then dredge in the egg and finally roll in the breadcrumbs until they are fully coated.
Heat the remaining butter (and a splash of olive oil to stop it burning) in a frying pan. Fry the sausages for a few minutes – turning frequently – until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. Transfer to a baking sheet.
Bake the fried sausages in the oven for around 15-20 mins.
These are delicious just as a snack with a bit of fruity chutney or tomato ketchup, served as part of a fried breakfast, with chips or mash for dinner, or with a simple salad for a light lunch.
If you try them out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
The Playlist
To me, cooking and music go hand in hand, whether that’s singing at the top of your voice using a wooden spoon as a microphone while waiting for pasta to boil, or dancing around with the oven gloves on as the oven timer counts down. Here are this week’s ideas for your Welsh Kitchen playlist.
This week we have two acts that have appeared on the UK version of The Voice. Firstly, we have the gorgeous tones of Bronwen Lewis, whose blind audition was one of the best I’ve ever heard (and still one of biggest travesties of the second series that she didn’t go through). Fans of the film Pride might recognise her from the scene in the workingmen’s hall when she starts singing Bread and Roses. The second song this week is from Into the Ark, a duo from Blackwood who made it to the final of series six, coached by none other than Sir Tom Jones.
Edrych Rôl Fy Hun by Bronwen
Underneath The Sun by Into The Ark
The Pantry
Good food is nothing without good ingredients and thankfully there are plenty of fantastic Welsh products on the market. Here is where you’ll find recommendations to stock up your cupboard, fridge or fruit bowl.
Shirgar Welsh Butter
Well it had to be really, didn’t it? There are lots of Welsh butters out there, but I love the taste of Shirgar. Churned and packaged in Carmarthenshire, it’s a great all-round butter and I’ve used it for everything from toast to teacakes, baking to Béarnaise. They offer unsalted for those so inclined (I know Nigella likes to add her own salt) and a spreadable version, too.