The Romans were the chaps responsible for bringing sausage culture to Europe, but their original version would have been much more highly seasoned than the sausages we currently consume. The Romans loved their sausages to come with lashings of cumin, pepper, parsley, pine kernels and mixed herbs.
There is, however, some dispute as to whether the Romans actually did come up with the original idea of mixing ground meat with salt and seasoning. Credit is also given to the ancient Greeks with one gentleman, an Athenian called Aphthonetus being credited as being the original ‘king of sausage making’.
Few countries in the world are bereft of an indigenous sausage; they can be made from fish, vegetables, cheese and even fruit, but most come from various parts of the pig.
Be it sausage in English, Saucisse in French, Salsicia in Italy, wurst in Germany, Si-Klok in Thailand or Chorizo in Spain, they all have about them the same super sound of ‘sizzling in a frying pan.’
Most people look on sausages as a cheap source of food, but they do without realising how much care and work is involved in making a proper quality sausage compared to say cutting off a sirloin of steak, or a couple of pork chops.
There are of course those sausages that are indeed a cheap meal because the content is cheap: mass produced sausages are artificial skins filled with very little meat content (in the UK it need only be 65% meat in a pork sausage and only 80% of that has to be actual pork)
At the risk of offending the islands sausage makers one has to take an enormous leap of faith to buy most of the products that purport to be ‘English Sausages freshly made with the best ingredients’. Many of our local supermarkets do not give details on the rusk content or what parts of the animal have been used, so one wisely steers away from products which do not boast loudly that they are made fresh, are free from MSG, devoid of any rusk content or wheat additives, and are sausages that have been hand made under pristine conditions, using natural skins containing: not much salt, top quality meat, plus fresh herbs and seasonings with no trace of potassium nitrate.
The reason we British call sausages ‘bangers’ is that commercially made sausages always contain a high percentage of bread and, as we all know, bread carries up to three times its weight in water. So, the interaction between fat and water whilst frying causes a sausage to burst – the bigger the bang it makes, indicates that the maker has opted for less meat and more bread.
Hotels here in Cyprus claim to serve up to tourists a proper breakfast sausage, this is usually in the form of a rather sad sorry pathetic little weenie, or ghastly steamed franks, even more frightening is the ubiquitous chicken sausage which tastes as if its 98% cereal padding, having been given a quick once over with a sole chicken feather before being wrapped in a synthetic skin, the texture and toughness of which could do real damage to one’s front crowns.
Lets not even mention the on going ‘sausage roll’ scandal, whereby one has delicious fluffy pastry stuffed with an over salted cheap frankfurter of totally unknown parentage.
Neo, the owner of Butcher Boy in Paphos, has, for the past ten months, been religiously developing a range of sausages to satisfy the huge expat market that over the years have come to regard Cyprus as a sausage free zone as far as being able to buy their own particular brands are concerned.
During these ten months we the testers, have regularly fried, grilled, baked, and barbequed Neo’s offerings. Some, at the beginning of his experimentation, were just too bland, some too spicy, in others the casing texture was all wrong. But, every month we tried again, and slowly but surely the taste, and textures started to combine to give us what can now be honestly described as a jolly good English breakfast sausage.
This, you can now buy along with a good range of savoury sausages which are just perfect for summer barbeques or simple supper dishes. Last week a group of both British and Cypriot residents once again gathered to give the final seal of approval on some of Neo’s savoury sausages. We had made a huge pot of creamy mashed potatoes, got out the ketchup, mustard, plus a mixed salad, then sat down to taste test. First: Neo’s Spanish spicy sausage. This, on a scale of ten out of ten was the one that hit the Bo Derek 10 for flavour, texture, and for not being too fiery, but just right for nervous taste buds. Next came the lamb and mint, this one only scored a 5 as the flavour was to our minds a bit too gamey and the hint of mint was just that, so that one goes back to the drawing board. The pork and apple was another winner, as was the Cumberland (we also thought that this along with the Onion Bratwurst would work well when added uncooked to a casserole of lamb chops come winter time to give a really good kick of flavour to the meat.)
As for the spicy garlic, well by the time you read this Neo will have added a bit more garlic to give this one the all essential lift in flavour intensity. The Pork and leek with a trace of ginger was another that went down a treat, as did the batch of tomato flavoured sausages. None of the sausages tested shrunk to ‘weenie’ proportions, all kept their juiciness, the casings didn’t burst, and by the end of the sausage eating marathon we all agreed that Neo can now justifiably, be crowned ‘ Sausage King of Paphos.’
So, now a recipe. Kids will love this as it has the sweetness and savoury tastes they so adore.
Honeyed Sausages.
Serves eight.
Ingredients 8oz (225g) jar of runny honey
1tsp mustard powder
Juice of one lemon
Approx 25 pork sausages (Neos English blend)
Method.
Heat the honey and mustard in a pan, adding enough lemon juice to make a pouring consistency.
Half cook the sausages on the barbeque until opaque (about ten minutes)
Transfer to roasting tin
Pour over honey mix and finish off in the oven at 200c (400f gas 6) for about 20-30 minutes.
Butcher Boy.
65. Eleftheriou Venizelou
Paphos.
Tel 26 944 206
Mob 9947 56 30
Past the new Post office, past St George’s clinic, past Riccos takeaway then few hundred metres on the left next to Zorbas Bakery is Butcher Boy.
