Читать книгу The Taste of Britain - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Страница 248

In 1779, the Reverend Dr Warner wrote to his friend George Selwyn, ‘I shall also order some New College puddings and Oxford sausages, and hope to bring you a hare.’ (Jesse, 1901) These sausages were already famous. In 1726, John Nott gave a recipe for ‘Sausages called Oxford Skates’ which closely resembles recipes still known. It is a mixture of pork, veal and beef suet, quite highly seasoned. White (1932) has printed similar recipes from the following 200 years. In all of them, the mixture was rolled into cylinders or patties, floured and fried. If Oxford sausages were skinless, it goes without saying that Cambridge sausages (also celebrated in the past) were stuffed into skins.

Mrs Rundell (1807) mentions the addition of a little soaked bread in her instructions, suggesting the recipe had then begun to evolve along lines similar to other British sausages. Dallas (1877) noted that the mixture was pressed ‘down close in a pan for use. It may be stuffed in skins like other sausage meat; but is generally rolled out as wanted, and either fried in fresh butter of a brown colour or broiled over a clear fire.’ Oxford sausages were less remarked in the twentieth century but were still known, and Florence White records correspondence about them, including the fact they could still be bought in Oxford market in the early 1930s and that a similar skinless sausage was found in Cornwall. Finney’s guide for pork butchers (1915) included an Oxford seasoning which included sage and coriander; he also had recipes for Oxford beef sausages.

‘One can say everything best over a meal.’

GEORGE ELIOT, ADAM BEDE

In recent years British fresh sausages generally have suffered from the application of mass-production techniques. Recently, more interest has been taken in the subject, and new companies are researching and using recipes based on those from the eighteenth century.