I never finish learning, and today I learned that pigs in a blanket is NOT the same as a sausage roll.
Anyway, this is how you make sausage rolls.
First you need pastry. You can buy it frozen of course, or you can make your own, and there are several types of pastry suited to this. Puff or flaky pastry is increasingly popular, in fact for some people that's the only pastry they'll accept. Then there's an old-fashioned shortcrust pastry which is sturdier - if you plan on transporting these it might stand up to it better.
But we have developed a taste for a pastry that is halfway between the two, and the recipe is printed on a brand-name lard here in Canada, called Tenderflake. The Tenderflake recipe is so good, that frankly we don't bother with anything else.
You'll find it in detail here:
http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/tenderflake-recipe
Tom is the pastry maker here and he says just use all the damn water, it turns out fine.
Anyway, having made that, let it sit, covered while you make your sausagemeat filling.
You'll need
1kg of lean ground pork
A medium onion chopped up very finely
1 tablespoon of parsley
2 tsps sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper.
Get your hands in it and mix that all up.
Now grab a lump of pastry dough and roll it out to a long, long strip about 4" wide. Then take the sausage meat and create a snake right down the centre third of the pastry. Now flip the sides up and overlap them so the meat is covered and you have a very, very long sausage roll.
First time I got Michael to do this he struggled with it, and I said to him "Call yourself a teenager, and you don't know how to roll a joint?" He was horrified.
Cut it into shorter lengths. short ones for parties, a bit longer if you're serving it for a meal. Repeat until the pastry and sausage meat is all gone. Turn them over so the join is on the bottom and line up on parchment lined pans. Slash the tops with a knife, and then paint them all well with an eggwash.
Bake at 180C for about 45 minutes.
This makes a lot, but don't do less. They freeze well, and besides, they are so good they'll go fast.
