Bangers and Mash
I am far from an expert on this dish. I think I have honestly only had it one other time in a restaurant but it made a large enough impression on me that I wanted to try and recreate a version that was low carb and could be used in a weekly meal prep that didn’t seem like a huge heavy lunch.
There are three pretty basic components to this meal. Sausage, mash (typically potatoes), and gravy. Picking a proper sausage was the most difficult part of this recipe. I visited my local butcher counter and selected a breakfast blend pork sausage. While the end result was pretty darn good, I am not convinced this was the correct choice. I’ll likely choose some other pork variant next time. Its difficult to find a proper non Italian sausage in my area. It maybe time to invest in some casings and equipment to make my own. I simply browned the sausage in a pan on the stove until all sides where dark and crisp but not burnt. Once I had achieved this I set the sausages aside and started work on the other components
The second part was the mash. To be sure to stay true to the low carb theme here I chose to use cauliflower instead of potatoes. I steamed two heads of cauliflower florets and then placed them into a food processor. I whipped them with some butter and a small amount of cream. I then added salt and pepper to taste. I had my beautiful sous chef, aka the fiancee, to taste the concoction and she actually asked if I had mixed some potatoes into the cauliflower. I said “nope, that’s all cauliflower believe it or not”. That was a good enough response for me. . . Check the box on the mash.
The last part was the onion gravy, which is a pretty import part that brings it all together. I had some leftover homemade beef stock in the refrigerator that I reinforced with some new mise en place. I pan roasted carrots, celery, and onion in a little bit of clarified butter and then deglazed with some red wine. I then added the stock, herbs, and let it simmer until reduced by about half. Finally I strained it through a fine mesh and set aside for the next step. I then sauted a yellow onion in some oil with a bunch of mushrooms. Once they were nice and tender I added the reinforced stock back into the pan and let it simmer until the natural collagen from the beef stock thickened the gravy through reduction. I hit it with a squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper to taste. This was it for the gravy. If you feel like your gravy is to thin, mix a small slurry of water and corn starch a little bit at a time to thicken the sauce.
The final assembly was quick. I simply added all of the parts to the dish in sequence; mash, meat, gravy, and peas that I had steamed to add some green veg to the meal prep. It turned out wonderfully delicious.
The recipe I generally followed is here below
Conclusion
I’ll probably receive some criticism for this mock bangers and mash as it may be right up there with fish and chips when it comes to identifiable British meals. I’m fine with that based on the result. As a weekly meal prep option this is worthy of my list. It delivers plenty of flavor and absolutely passes as bangers and mash in my opinion. There are a ton of options when it comes to sausages, pick one that you like the best.