Welsh Glamorgan Sausages @TheRareWelshBit – Kacie Morgan

Closer to a savoury rissole or croquette than a traditional sausage, Welsh Glamorgan sausages or ‘Selsig Morgannwg’, don’t actually contain any meat at all.

When meat was rationed during WW2, these Welsh veggie sausages were thought to be a popular treat. Traditionally, they were made using breadcrumbs, eggs, leeks, and Glamorgan cheese that was produced with milk sourced from the now near extinct Glamorgan cattle. However, their roots stretch back to the 1850s, when George Borrow raved about eating Glamorgan sausages for breakfast in Wild Wales.

Today, as Glamorgan cheese is no longer available, Caerphilly and Cheddar are used as common substitutes.

For an easy yet tasty twist on traditional Welsh Glamorgan sausages, my recipe uses Dragon’s Handcrafted cavern-aged, leek-blended Cavern Emerald Cheddar to save on the hassle of washing, slicing and sautéing leeks.

Pair your Glamorgan sausages with Dragon’s tangy Handcrafted Piccalilli Pickle and a crisp side salad, for a comforting autumnal snack.

Cavern Emerald Welsh Glamorgan sausage recipe

Makes 8 sausages

Cost per sausage: 50p – 70p

 Ingredients

• 175g Dragon Cavern Emerald, grated
• 175g fresh white breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• ½ tsp mustard powder
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 2 medium eggs
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• ¼ tsp salt
• Plain flour, for coating
• 50g Dragon Welsh Salted Butter
• 2-3 tbsp Dragon Piccalilli Pickle and salad, to serve

 Method

1. Combine cheese, 100g fresh breadcrumbs, parsley, mustard powder, and pepper.
2. Separate the egg yolks from the whites, reserving the whites. Beat the yolks together with the milk, and stir into the breadcrumb mixture. Use your hands to combine the mixture, rolling it into a ball.
3. Divide the mixture into eight pieces, and roll each into the shape of a sausage, around three inches long. Cover and chill for one hour.
4. Season the plain flour with the salt, and coat each ‘sausage’ in the seasoned flour.
5. Gently whisk the egg whites together until slightly frothy and coat each sausage, before rolling each one in the remaining breadcrumbs.
6. Heat the Dragon butter in a heavy-based frying pan and shallow fry the sausages over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes per side, until crisp and golden all over.
7. Repeat to ensure they’re cooked through, cooking the sausages for around 15 minutes
8. Serve with Dragon Piccalilli Pickle, and a crisp side salad.

Notes/Tips

When mixing the ingredients together, aim for a dough-like texture with a sticky (as opposed to sloppy) consistency.

• Don’t be tempted to skip chilling your Glamorgan sausages; this really helps to bind the ingredients together.
• You can also cook your Glamorgan sausages in the air-fryer for 12 minutes, but they won’t be quite as crisp or golden.
• You can replace the mustard powder with one teaspoon of English mustard if you prefer, but you’ll need to beat the mustard with the egg yolks and milk, rather than adding it to the breadcrumb mixture.
• Glamorgan sausages will stay fresh for 1-2 days in the fridge, or freeze in an airtight container for 3-4 months. Cook from frozen in 20-25 minutes on 180C/160C fan/gas 4.