A length of seasoned pork sausage meat wrapped in buttery puff pastry and baked until the pastry shatters and the meat runs with juice. Eaten warm or cold, by hand, at any hour, it is the default British bakery and lunchbox snack.
Popularised as cheap London street food in the early 1800s; the bakery chain Greggs alone sells around 2.5 million a week. 'Sausage roll'.
The pastry shatters into buttery flakes the moment you bite, then gives way to hot, peppery, herb-flecked pork that floods the mouth with savoury juice. It is humble, greasy in the best way, and almost impossible to eat just one of.
Laminated puff pastry traps steam between butter layers so it puffs and crisps, while wrapping the meat seals in fat and moisture so the pork steams to juicy tenderness inside its crust.
Variations
Greggs-style commercial roll, Cumberland-sausage version, vegan mushroom-and-lentil rolls, mini cocktail rolls, cheese-and-pickle topped
On the Palate
Where Sausage Roll sits in the British flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 16 min
Mix sausage meat with finely chopped sage, thyme, salt, pepper and a little grated onion.
- 24 min
Roll the puff pastry into a long rectangle and cut it lengthways into two strips.
- 34 min
Pipe or spoon a log of sausage meat down the centre of each strip.
- 43 min
Brush one long edge with beaten egg, fold the pastry over the meat and press the seam to seal.
Watch outPress the egg-washed seam firmly shut — a loose seam splits open and leaks fat all over the tray as it bakes.
- 54 min
Cut each filled log into short rolls and place seam-side down on a lined tray.
- 63 min
Slash the tops, brush all over with beaten egg and scatter with sesame or poppy seeds.
Watch outSlash the tops before baking so steam escapes — sealed rolls balloon and burst instead of rising evenly.
- 725 min
Bake at 200C until deeply golden and crisp and the meat is cooked through.
Watch outBake until the pastry is deep gold and crisp underneath — pale bottoms mean the base is still raw and doughy.
- 85 min
Cool a few minutes on a rack and serve warm with brown sauce or ketchup.
