Homemade Sausage Making

I want to make some sausage rolls. I would like to use cumberland sausages. Anyone got a cumberland sausage recipe?

The cumberland sausage is now a protected food. It has to be made within a certain area and is set ingredents. Here are some ingredents that can be used: White pepper
Black pepper
Salt
Thyme
Sage
Nutmeg
Mace
Cayenne

It can also contain rusk, wheat based dough, potato starch, flaked rice, spelt,
soya grit and gluten free rusk.

Surprised that it can contain cayenne,

Mark, according to the protection specification there is a fair degree of latitude allowed butchers producing in the protected territory. This is a quote from the specification found at the link below.

"The quantities of ingredients used varies according to each butcher, however the following physical and technical characteristics must be adhered to:
The sausage must have a minimum diameter of 20mm in order to
achieve the characteristic coarse texture
Meat content must be at least 80% and must be de-rinded to remove
skin and gristle.
Maximum 5% water content
Minimum 15% protein content
Maximum 20% fat content
2 Maximum 11% connective tissue"

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ge-pgi.pdf

markjass wrote:I want to make some sausage rolls. I would like to use cumberland sausages. Anyone got a cumberland sausage recipe?

From Len Poli.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Eng ... erland.pdf

Mark's request got me looking into Cumberland Sausage. I started here on WD but found little. Went over to sausage maker where there is a long thread about Oddley's recipe. It contains phosphate, which he explains is for retention of water and color enhancement. Many folks didn't have phosphate and Oddley said not to worry about leaving it out "but it won't be the same sausage". I immediately thought of Redzed and knew he would agree. So Red, if you don't include the phosphate what do you call the sausage, everything else being the same

Oh yeah, Len Poli's recipe doesn't have phosphate.

Phil, since you are not a commercial producer based in the European Union, you can call that sausage whatever you want! The sausage has been the granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the EU. But it looks like it has to be called "Traditional Cumberland Sausage", so you can make whatever you want and call it "Cumberland Sausage."

And I very much doubt that the "Traditional" Sausage contains phosphates. The only reason you would put phosphates into a fresh sausage is to guard your bottom line and maximize profit. Your sausage starts losing moisture (and therefore profit) from the moment you finish stuffing. Your friendly butcher revealed only half of the story as to why he uses phosphates.

But it does sound like an elegant sausage that I will have to make one of these days.

Here are the EU specs:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ge-pgi.pdf

Chris I was pulling your leg - the site is far too serious these days

Phil, since you are not a commercial producer based in the European Union, you can call that sausage whatever you want! The sausage has been the granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the EU. But it looks like it has to be called "Traditional Cumberland Sausage", so you can make whatever you want and call it "Cumberland Sausage."

What amazes me about the EU protection is the amount of effort the Cumberland folks went to to get that protection and what did they get? The exclusive right to put the phrase "Traditional Cumberland Sausage" on their label. My God what a gift to bureaucrats!

Thanks for your comments I have found some recipes to consider. I can understand why local producers band together to protect a product. Cumberland was an English county that was abolished in 1974. There were other counties that ceased to exist at the same time. These included Westmorland (combined with Cumberland and a part of Lancashire to form Cumbria) and Rutland. Apparently there are people that still list Cumberland and Westmoreland (old way of spelling it) on their postal address. While the county of Rutland was vaporised, it has now been resurrected, no such luck for Cumberland and Westmorland. I do not know how the borders of the old and new Rutland compare. So while the vestiges of the county of Cumberland may become a distant memory the Cumberland Sausage will be long celebrated and keep its heritage alive.

Mark I understand people trying to protect their unique product too - we started and managed a farmers' market for 14 years, which is still operating. It's what they get for all their effort. Reading the specifications for "Traditional Cumberland Sausage" it seems to come down to being able to label their product "traditional". That doesn't seem to have the same punch or financial reward as "certified organic" or "omega 3". I guess only the Brits would know.

Meanwhile I've picked my Cumberland recipe and ordered what I need - looking forward to sausage rolls too

Shuswap wrote:Meanwhile I've picked my Cumberland recipe and ordered what I need - looking forward to sausage rolls too

Sure hope you picked the one without the phosphates! I've read somewhere that the stuff makes you sterile.

Have had an interesting few days searching the net, the local library and chatting to two butchers (one via facebook) that make good sausages about British sausages. Like all good sausages they are simple. I have just made some rusk and will incorporate it in the two types of sausages that I am about to make, the Cumberland and the Lincolnshire. Both are very basic and require good quality pork. The Lincolnshire sausage is ground pork which cannot be finer than 4.5 mm. It contains salt, sage, pepper and rusk and water (to enable the stuffing process). The Cumberland, the version that I am going to make has salt, pepper, nutmeg, mace, coriander and cayenne pepper. Compared to a lot of English sausages, not mexican or North American it is is quite spicy. It will then be sausage rolls for lunch later in the week.