Irish Bangers and Mash - Giving it a try

With my family, the individual that has a birthday gets to choose what they want for the birthday dinner when we come together. This year I chose to do an international theme. So everyone is to bring a "authentic" dish from another country. (other than Mexican and Italian). I've chosen Irish Bangers and Mash. For one, it sounded pretty simple, and I usually nail the simple stuff. I've got a couple of recipes I found on Pinterest that I will be going with. The problem is, the ones I found speak about types of sausages I've never heard of. Being from Kentucky, and international fresh food choices are pretty limited. So, would a good ole' Johnsonville Beer Brat work just fine for this?

Plus any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

My advise..
Under no circumstance use johnsonville for eating. Gerreerross
Check out fresh market or your local butchers for snaussages.
Price is close, taste is not.
A beer bath lightly boiled, not cooked-in before grilling or smoking is tits too.

Oh hell no. You need proper sausages like Musk or Newmarket. And you gotta have onion gravy.


a reply to: Tekaran

Go on Amazon and have some fresh real bangers sent to your front door, packed with an ice block

a reply to: Tekaran

You didn't let your family make Italian or Mexican food for your birthday, but you get to bring mashed potatoes and sausages? 😂😂

Power move.

a reply to: visitedbythem ^^^This^^^

Definitely not Johnsonville brats! Nowhere even remotely close to a banger!

A banger has the consistency of a hot dog and they have natural casings. I'd definitely try on-line.

If you don't want to do that, then the next closest thing I could think of might be a bockwurst sausage (looks like a fat hot dog, but shorter), or a knackwurst.

Go looking for local butchers. I know of at least two in my area that make their own in-house sausages, and depending on what I am making, what I need, I can go to one or the other.

One makes awesome knocks and Polish, and the other makes more boutique style sausage with interesting flavors.

Beware of Pinterest....I banned my wife from getting recipes from Pinterest because we had to throw away half of three meals she made using pinterest recipes. She has not got any recipes off of pinterest since then, but she gets recipes off of some other sites and at least they are decent. I will usually eat foods so they do not get wasted, I could not eat those recipes.

a reply to: rickymouse

I need to know what they were!

a reply to: Tekaran
Here is a picture of what I would expect "bangers" to look like.
englishbreakfastsociety.com...

originally posted by: Atsbhct
a reply to: rickymouse

I need to know what they were!

One was lasagna, the others were casseroles of some kind. It was mostly the mixtures of spices, it seems that people who post there can't understand that some spices should not get mixed or maybe their tastebuds are screwed up. Way too much flavorings for us, especially ummami.

a reply to: Tekaran

As an Irish person I would say that Bangers & Mash are a UK thing, not Irish. Saying that, we do eat stuff like that but I've never seen it labelled as that. Growing up we'd often have mashed potatoes, fried sausages and baked beans. We just called it spuds and sausages.

You'd need really good quality pork sausages, which are fried on the pan on a medium heat. For the mash, get a good boiling potato. Chop into quarters and boil until a fork slides in without too much resistance. Strain when done, and get as much liquid out, pop back into the saucepan and add some salt. Cover with a lid for a few minutes to let the remaining moisture steam off. Mash them well, and then add in good butter (Kerrygold is available in the US I think). Cover again and let the butter melt and then mix into the mashed spuds. Add a decent splash of milk, mix and check for seasoning. You might need a bit more salt at this stage. For extra creamy mash, add a spoon of mayo, and mix into the spuds. You now have the best mash ever.

Good impression of Irish sausages here:
www.irishtimes.com...

I like Jville sausages. guess I'm in the minority here.

don't know how authentic but smoked sausages broiled to a crisp go good with mash

small local stuff is always a good choice.

I do bangers and mash for the kids once a week, it’s our easy meal /comfort food,

I’ll do pork sausages, whole grain mustard mash, beef gravy with added fried onions, and mix it up each week with different sides, either Yorkshire puddings added, corn on the cob, culliflower cheese, or broccoli cheese

Sometimes I’ll do bangers and mash with a Polish sausage, the polish really can make some really great tasty sausages, my favourite is Slaska sausages, but of course it’s not quite traditional british bangers and mash, Bratwurst, frankfurters, big no no, stick that in a finger bun and load up on the hot sauce

This has made me hungry

a reply to: ElGoobero

It's not about disliking Johsonville brats or sausages, we like them too (despite the other poster's sentiments).

It's just than they don't fit the bill for bangers. Bangers are much more finely ground. Johnsonville brats are very coarsely ground, and that's the big difference.

One of the other things to remember is many English dishes serve cold baked beans (something unheard of in the US), so think....beans and franks. The UK seems to be a big fan of sweet, and only very mild spice. The only thing which seems to cross this barrier is fish & chips (salty / vinagery), and curry...which is odd to me, but it is what it is.

Bangers fall into this weird zone. But because they're sausages, it's okay.

Love me some Bangers and Mash!!!!!!!!!!! Probably my most favorite food in the UK next to Beef Wellington!! (with "ajus" of course!!)

ETA - S & F! to the OP!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

What do you mean cold baked beans are unheard of? My family has always had them as a fairly common picnic type food at summer gatherings. We have them hot too, but even at summery cookouts, it's just easier to serve them cold. Then again, mom's heritage is Brit, and we have some food tradition holdovers like the fruit cake, and grandma used to do bubble and squeak. So maybe that's why we do baked beans both ways.

a reply to: ketsuko

For breakfast, darlin'; for breakfast!

Don't forget some Bubbles and Squeak....

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Oh, baked beans of any sort are nasty for breakfast. It's the sauce.