Bar
Woodall’s Waberthwaite Cumberland Sausage with Onion, Beer and
Bisto Gravy
Grasmere,
The Lake District, January 1, 2001 Happy New Year to all and I hope
that everyone has enjoyed the holidays and eaten and drunk well and
in the style and manner to which you are all accustomed.
For us, December’s
festivities already seem almost a distant memory. Much of the last month
of last year is probably best forgotten: we found ourselves seemingly
cut off from the rest of the country (if not the world) with both BT
phone and ISDN lines (and therefore email), as well as main line rail
services to virtually anywhere all out of action for some weeks. Furthermore,
we had to sandbag our house against the constant threat of rising tidal
floodwaters from the River Exe combined with immense amounts of freshwater
surging down from Exmoor following weeks of near constant, sometimes
torrential rain. It has been a truly horrid time, and though we ourselves
were fortunate not to suffer flooding or other damage, some of our neighbours
were not when the River Clyst by the Bridge Inn
burst its banks.
An end-of-year
escape from sodden climes to the gorgeous, snowy heights of Cumbria’s
Lake District thus made both a fitting end to the old year and a great
start to the new. We’d rented a lovely little cottage in the centre
of this tiny but atmospheric village where William Wordsworth lived
and is buried, and it made a great base for walking and tobogganing.
And in the evenings, a trek through the snow to the Traveller’s
Rest a mile or so up the road towards Keswick helped work up both a
healthy thirst and hunger, the former most enjoyable slaked with Jennings
ales, the latter with truly outstanding and superior pub food.
Hearty foods
after long walks on the snow-covered fells above Grasmere were just
what we all needed and we enjoyed cooking some simple meals in our basic
but well-equipped cottage. A favourite whenever we come to the Lakes
is our old friend Bar Woodall’s superlative Waberthwaite Cumberland
sausage, which we consider the finest sausage in the country: coarsely
ground, seasoned liberally with salt and black pepper, very meaty, and
sold in long, unlinked coils. It’s now available over the web through
the Richard
Woodall web site so if you haven’t tried it, we urge you to
do so. We love Bar’s sausage any way, cooked over charcoal in the
summer, fried, or grilled. Best of all at this time of year is to oven
roast and serve with mashed potatoes and — wait for it — a
rich beer and onion gravy made with Bisto (nothing else will do). For
those of you who may not have encountered this peculiar British specialty,
Bisto is a long-standing pre-war household favourite used for adding
colour and thickening to gravy – purists may still prefer to use
the original boxed version which contains a fine powder that first must
be mixed to a paste, but for this gravy (and for this gravy alone),
we prefer to use the more convenient Bisto gravy granules.
Haute cuisine
it ain’t, but it sure tastes good after hours spent outdoors, armed
with trusty Wainwright, scrambling over The Lion and the Lamb…
Bar
Woodall’s Waberthwaite Cumberland Sausage with Onion, Beer and
Bisto Gravy
Serves 4
700 g Waberthwaite
Cumberland sausage, coiled in a single piece
2 medium onions
Butter and oil for frying
1/4 pt well hopped bitter beer
1/4 pt beef or chicken stock
4 generous tablespoons Bisto gravy granules
3/4 pt water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Freshly mashed potatoes made with creamy milk, lashings of farm butter,
and plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper – stir in a
tablespoon or two of wholegrain mustard to make a tasty mustard mash
Pre-heat
the over to 180 degrees C. Heat some butter and oil in a large frying
pan, and brown the coil of sausage nicely on both sides. Transfer to
an ovenproof dish and place in the oven for about 50-60 minutes, turning
once midway through.
Meanwhile,
in the same frying pan, add the sliced onions to the butter and oil.
Cook briskly over a medium flame to turn golden, then turn down the
heat and leave to stew and get soft and sweet, about 20-25 minutes.
Add the beer to the pan, scraping off from the bottom any nice, carmelised
brown bits, then allow to bubble and reduce. Add the beef or chicken
stock, stir in the gravy granules and sufficient water to make a nice,
thickish gravy. Season to taste and allow to cook for a further 15-20
minutes or so.
Serve with
the oven roasted Cumberland sausage, mashed potatoes, the onion, beer
and Bisto gravy, not forgetting a pint or two of best bitter.
Copyright
© Marc Millon 2001
