Bangers and Mash

Jeff the Chef

Bangers and Mash is an Irish comfort food perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Breakfast (yes, mashed potatoes, sausage, and onion gravy for brekkie), lunch, dinner, a mid-night snack … it’s all good.

Bangers and Mash
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Bangers and Mash

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: DinnerCuisine: Irish
Makes

4

servings

Multitask the potatoes and sausages.

Ingredients

  • For the onion gravy:

  • 6 Tbs cold butter, divided

  • 2 large yellow onions , peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced or diced

  • 2 tsp sugar

  • 1/2 cup red wine

  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme

  • 1 large sprig fresh sage

  • 2 cups strong beef broth

  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1/2 tsp yellow mustard

  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

  • 1 Tbs cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbs water

  • For the mash:

  • 2 pounds Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large (2-inch) uniform chunks

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 4 Tbs butter

  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard (optional)

  • 2 tsp whole-grain or coarse mustard (optional)

  • 1 tsp dry mustard (optional)

  • 3/4 to 1 cup hot milk

  • 2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Irish cheddar, or to taste (optional)

  • For the sausages:

  • 8 high quality pork sausages

  • Olive oil

  • Fresh parsley, for garnish

  • 1 bag (10 oz.) frozen peas, for service

Directions

  • Make the onion gravy.
  • Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a saucepan over medium heat (setting 4). Add the onions and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until deeply caramelized, 30 minutes. Add the wine and herbs, and bring to a rapid boil. Boil for 2 minutes, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the stock, mustard, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low (setting 2) and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove herb sprigs. Add vinegar, whisk in the cornstarch mixture, and simmer another minute or two until thickened, whisking continuously. Add remaining 2 Tbs butter and whisk until dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste and more mustard if desired. Off heat. Reheat when ready to serve.
  • Make the mash.
  • Place the potatoes in a pot of water and add the salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a steady simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until they potatoes are just tender when pierced with a knife. Be careful not to over-boil them.
  • Thoroughly drain the potatoes and place them back in the empty pot set over very low heat just to maintain warmth. Mash the potatoes by hand while they’re hot. Mash until you’ve reached your desired degree of smoothness. Be careful not to over-mash.
  • Use a spoon to stir in the butter, (Dijon, whole-grain mustard, and dry mustard). Once melted, stir in the hot milk (and cheese) gradually, allowing time for the potatoes to absorb the liquid after each addition. Add more hot milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Make the sausages.
  • Preheat the oven to 400°F (375°F convection).
  • Massage the sausages lightly with oil and place them on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 8-10 minutes, turn them, and rearrange them if you notice some are browning quicker than other. Continue this process until they’re all cooked through and browned to your liking – perhaps for a total of 24-30 minutes. When they’re done, they should puff up a bit and at least a few of them should “bang” open. Once you think they’re close to being done, prepare the peas according to package directions.
  • Serve.
  • Place a mound of mashed potatoes on each plate, lay the sausages on the mashed potatoes, and top with onion gravy. Peas are a traditional side.

Notes

  • Substitutions: for the milk, a 50/50 mixture of crème fraîche and milk.
"Bangers and Mash," from Make It Like a Man!

Social Learning

Instead of serving peas on the side, you can mix the peas into the mash – which you’ll see is what I did, if you look closely. If you do this, you should use far fewer peas than this recipe calls for.

My limited understanding of this dish is that you can make it with any kind of sausage. Size seems to matter; most of the photos I’ve seen include brat-sized sausages. In the weeks before St. Pat’s Day, my local butcher sells Cumberland sausages, which are apparently the most traditional type served with this dish. They’re fantastic! Mild and tender. Very easy to eat. Combined with the mash and gravy, it turns into a powerful comfort food.

Is this dish Irish or English? If the internet knows, it doesn’t seem to want to tell me. I’ve seen almost every opinion that one could possibly have: one, the other, or both.

The Backstory

If you’re the type of person who tries to keep all the food on their plate separate, this isn’t for you, as it seems that the best way to eat it is to cut off a bite of sausage, and scoop up a bunch of potatoes and gravy on the same fork.

"Bangers and Mash," from Make It Like a Man!
Bangers and Mash

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. References: Ina Garten via Food Network, Martha Stewart, The Daring Gourmet. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #13 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.

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54 thoughts on “Bangers and Mash”

  3. All the times I have been to the UK, I have never had bangers and mash. Maybe it’s because I never saw them look as good as yours! I could easily tuck into that dish, and the gravy looks so amazing.

    Reply

    • Thanks, David. I’ve never been to the UK! But somewhere along the way, I got the notion that this is the kind of “breakfast” that you have after a long night of drinking when you haven’t yet made it to bed and the sun’s coming up. But even under those condition, you’ve never had it??? 🙂

      Reply

  4. Great looking dish. Funny name. I have a daughter, at 38, who still doesn’t want her food touching! I’m the opposite. Every food touching provides a new taste sensation. That’s why I love Thanksgiving!

    Reply

  8. Believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve ever had bangers and mash. I don’t know how I’ve managed that, but it’s time to fix that problem. Great timing on this recipe, Jeff! And thanks for the tip on Cumberland sausages. I just stopped by a new butcher store here in town, so now I’ll have to go back and see what he carries in terms of snausages! (Yes, snausages.)

    Reply

  12. While I’ve never had bangers and mashed for breakfast, I’ve had and made them before. As a matter of fact, I’ll be sharing another version of the dish later in the week. As to your question, you will find this meal in pubs in both Ireland and the UK.
    Your recipe sounds very good.

    Reply

    • I’ve never been to a pub in England or Ireland, but knowing I could have a dish like this in one of them makes me want to go all the more!

      Reply

  18. Onion gravy? Sounds good to me. And who doesn’t love mash? I love the version that has just about as much cream to potato :=) And butter of course. Yep heart attack on a plate… hehehe

    Reply

  19. Irish or English, it sounds like a comforting classic regardless! Thanks for sharing this delightful recipe, its absolutely mouthwatering

    Reply

    • Understood! My husband, in fact, is not much of a sausage fan. I could eat them day and night, though.

      Reply

  21. This is something that my husband ate a lot of in England. I don’t recall him eating it in Ireland though. I think a real Irish breakfast would come with beans too, so my vote would be this is more English than Irish. Though my Irishman husband would eat it in any country LOL

    Reply

  22. Buenos días.
    Que buen plato el que nos has preparado, esta salchicha con puré me parece sensacional, al igual que su presentación.
    Un abrazo Paco

    Reply

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