Wow! They look fantastic, even more so if it's your first go! You're probably better off looking for recipe ideas from Brits as American sausage is somewhat of a different thing.

I do not put sausage in casing either because I do not have the equipment, and it is easier to cook patties. I generally always put sage in sausage, and if I'm making Italian sausage I also add fennel.

I do have a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, and so that helps.

I tend to use TexMex or Southwestern spices when I make sausage, and so they will contain chilies - usually dried ones, but if I use fresh, I cook them a bit first to remove some of the moisture, unless they are very small.

I also do not know what British Bangers are.

"Bangers" is the British slang term for sausages, always in casings, usually fat ones as Islay has made. So called because they often burst in the cooking. Usually made of pork meat.

"Bangers and mash" is a traditional comfort food meal of fried sausages and mashed potatoes.

I make my own bulk sausage too - sort of an Italian style with garlic and marjoram. I don't eat pork, so I use ground turkey or beef.

Congrats on the 'real' sausages - I love sausage ☺

And I used to work in a restaurant run by an Italian American couple who made their own 'real' sausage in casings. It was a big production. They would make a huge amount at one time.

I've never had bangers, so I've no idea what the flavor profile would be.

I really like HankShaw's recipes. Link, HERE

Not sure how his banger recipe compares. He does use venison but it is interchangeable with available mince like beef and pork and lamb.

We are more interested in the spiced merguez style using the thin sheep casings. And the Louisiana boudin.

I bought a commercial style grinder years ago after our favorite butcher retired. His son took over and ruined everything. SO salty. We have never cared for the Italian American sausages found here. Way to salty and fatty/greasy.

I do have a mixer attachment grinder that is excellent for small batch grinding.

Did not make a single link in 2020. We had planned to, but our local grass fed farm share makes excellent lean, not salty, sausages. Many varieties to choose from.

I make homemade breakfast sausage often. But in patties, not links. I would love to make traditional English bangers - bangers and mash one of my faves - but the casing is essential and I do not have the equipment to make cased sausages. Fortunately, there are several artisanal sausage makers in the area, several of which sell very good bangers at local markets. And my favorite local grocery sells an imported British banger as well.

It's hard to describe the diversity and flavor profiles of British sausages. They are soooo much better than what can be found state-side.

Thank you. Lars, I got the sausage stuffing bit that goes on tonthe meat grinder. It was really cheap and it's such a simple device I'm sure you could get one for any make.

Sleeve, I've been salivating over Hank Shaw's recipes. We laughed when for one, he says to use pork, wild boar or bear. No bear in France lol

Thanks for explaining bangers, colleen. They're fairly neutral. This recipe is very close to what I made. https://honest-food.net/bangers-sausage-recipe-homemade/

We're trying them tonight! I'll tell you if they explode or not!

Oh, good! I wanted to know how they did on the "bang" part! I'll look forward to the report.

I have the KA grinder attachment, and have made bulk sausage for lasagna, I can't see stuffing and drying sausages at home. I'm the one peeling the casings off all the time. I do admire those who do it, however! Yours look excellent, IC!

And, yes, they do make a stuffer extension for the KA grinder. It's just a nozzle that fits the outlet.

We do have wild game and seasons, but I have no interest in the hunt anymore... Even the bear that has ripped my pear trees to shreds, year after year. (caught him pear-handed a couple years ago). Pups went nuts one early foggy morning.

Nice thing about the KA extensions is the low speed control for small batch sausage.

I had a moose license one season but not my thing. Could not do it. Shrimping and fishing no problem.

Islay, those look really nice, especially for a first try. Mine still come out with air bubbles or all in different sizes.

We do make sausage regularly. Elery hunts deer and we make various sausages from that, last batch was bratwurst, sweet Italian and a jalapeno cheese combo. We've also made liverwurst, breakfast sausage in both links and patties, summer sausage and mortadella. I started looking for recipes and was amazed at all the different recipes that were available.

OK, I've never made bangers, now I'll have to try those. Enjoy your sausages, I'll watch to see if they explode!

Sleevendog, I don't hunt either. Elery hunts deer, but nothing else other than an occasional groundhog in the garden or raccoon in the chicken coop. I have guns and know how to use them, but it just doesn't interest me. We definitely have bear here, but no one I know hunts them, they are just another nuisance pest that smashes the garbage cans. No wild boar that I'm aware of, and moose only in the Upper Peninsula, not down here.

Annie

Annie, I had air pockets! No explosions. Almost disappointing! Lol

I've never hunted anything in my life. There is a problem with wild boar numbers here......after almost is Asterix country.....my sausages needed more fat. But apart from being a little dry, they were nice. I'll braise the rest in red wine and onions and serve with a nice mashed potatoes.

I was given a moose roast once.....cooked it as a braise, with onions and garlic....and parsley and thyme....and pepper.....and anything else I could think of....and still couldn't eat it it was so gamey and "swampy" smelling.
So know what it tastes like if you are thinking of mixing moose into your sausage. And I have eaten bear and it is not nearly as gamey as that moose!

Dang, that's a delicious looking photo!

I've been gifted moose at least 15 out of the last 20 years. The same butcher team does the dressing for the village. Breakfast sausage, mince, and roast. They say they can tell what part of the island it is from by the flavor. Not near as gamy as the deer I grew up on. Very lean though. Deer we only make heavily seasoned chili. Moose mince I make burgers and meatballs. Stew with the roast. If swampy or gamy it could be the diet or how it was dressed/butchered.

I've been wanting to make my own bangers for awhile now. My parents, who were both British, emigrated separately and then met and married in America. In the US, bangers are hard to find, expensive and not very good. My local Asian market has an aisle of British imports & food. I like a lot of their British specialties, but the bangers are always such a disappointment for me.

DH got me the KA meat grinder attachment for Valentine's day, which I am looking forward to putting to use. I found this recipe - https://www.daringgourmet.com/homemade-british-bangers/ which I thought I would try.

penzey's Krakow nights seasoning is really good in homemade sausage

" In the US, bangers are hard to find, expensive and not very good."

I think that must be somewhat regional. Up here they are pretty common in local markets, no more expensive than any other specialty sausage and IMO (I'm also a Brit), the local artisanal offerings taste just as good as the imported ones I can get at a British specialty food store.

Now if I could just find kippers, I'd be happy :-)

It must be. I would love to have the option to buy some when the craving hits. I suspect their is not much of a market for British food here. We have lots of Asian and Mexican or Spanish food and produce, which tracks with our local and student populations.

we can get the tinned kippers at the grocery store

There are a variety of tinned kippers on Amazon, as well, though mostly by the case (dozen). There are also a number of online British food shops with fairly reasonable prices, for those who are pining. I don't get the longing for Heinz Salad Cream--it's just mayo with a lot of mustard and pretty easy to replicate--but to each their own. You can get that and just about everything else at these shops for expats that you can at the village grocery in anywhereshire.

Not tinned or canned (shudder!!). I want whole fillets. Like this:

My local grocer used to import them in from Nova Scotia but for whatever reason, lost their sourcing. My sister brought me some back from a trip to B.C. but she had to work hard to hunt those down and even the local British specialty shop has trouble getting them.

I can order them online but there is a perishability issue so shipping is huge!

Gardengal i totally agree with you. Proper kippers are lovely.

Here's a recipe I've made before to sate salad cream cravings but I've only had one in 30 years lol

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/salad_cream_31658

Lynda, that's very similar to the recipe I used....i just didn't add enough fat. The flavour was good and braised in red wine and beef stock, they were really special. Have fun experimenting! Next, I'm going for spicy ones with piment d'espelette.

Sleeve, no moose nor bears here 🤣🤣🤣

Oh! Sorry, Gardengal! I don't know anything about fish. Just that kippers were commonly canned, like sardines. Or staring from the silly sprig of parsley, which shows you I only know such canned small fish from cartoons, where the heads and fins are in the tin, but I'm guessing maybe it's actually fillets. Or is the kippered herring a different fish?

IC, that sounds fancy! The Heinz stuff really is mustardy mayo, by the ingredients. The actual cream makes your recipe sound good. :). But...no bears? Oh my! I did a search which says there's only about 100. :( Mostly in the Pyrenees. How sad! There are no more grizzlies here in California, except on the flag :( but we have plenty of black bears, 30,000-40,000. Of course, not in the built up areas, though we do have pumas and bobcats.

Kippers aren’t tinned, plllog. They are cold smoked. The whole fish is split from head to tail, gutted but left connected along the top edge, then opened out and laid on big wooden frames to be smoked.

No worries, pillog :-) Kippers are a cultural thing that are rare enough in the US so that few know or appreciate them. I realize having kippers for breakfast would appall most but kippers for Sunday breakfast is something I grew up with and still greatly enjoy. When I can find them!

Colleen's description is perfect. What one finds in cans or tinned is almost a completely different product and tastes nothing like the 'fresh' smoked whole fish (which is usually poached before eating). It's somewhat like comparing a fillet of Nova smoked salmon with the canned smoked salmon that comes from factory processing ship.......apples and oranges.

Question about a technicality: I’m familiar with the Venn diagram that is the British Isles and that the term “British” includes Northern Ireland, but... All this mention of British bangers, do they differ from Irish Bangers?

Gardengal...I wonder if smoked goldeye would satisfy your kipper itch? It's a Canadian and northern US specialty

Foodonastump, it's the seasoning that is a bit different, I reckon. Gardengal will say if she knows better. Both are very plain sausages so probably not a big difference. There will be differences.......as per region, budget, local preferences. It's just a plain sausage you could eat all day. Brits had very plain taste in food in the past. It's not the same any more, though.

Plllog, I could only find evidence of about 50 bears and the Pyrénées mountains are the other end of France to me. I couldn't eat bear. I had a teddy bear as a little girl!

IC, I don't eat bear. Just appreciate the role of large mammals in nature, and therefore sad that they've practically all gone from France. The population in California is at least double what it was at its nadir, before we started protecting habitats and all. But then the Ingalls family, and many less storyfied folks of their time pushing west, could live a whole Winter on one bear, so it's kind of part of American culture, and still a thing in more rural areas. Our local game mammals run to deer and jackrabbits.

Gardengal, it doesn't seem weird to me! I'm just allergic to fish and have limited knowledge. I'm sure fresh sardines are similarly different from canned, but they were overfished into disappearing here decades ago. But I also grew up on, “Could we have kippers for breakfast, Mummy dear, Mummy dear?” So it seems normal. :) Not that I think they really have them in Texas any more than anywhere else in the USA.

My Grandpa grew up in Canada, his Mother was from Ireland, and they often had fish for breakfast. I always thougt that was very unique, but not unpleasant, I happily ate fried or smoked fish whenever it was offered to me. I didn't know about kippers for breakfast, I thought it was one of those things Grandpa just did, as a farmer he ate big breakfasts. I still wouldn't be able to tell a kipper from a bluegill, I'm afraid, but at least I know what they are!

I was also gifted a couple of moose loins, which I made for Christmas last year and they were not nearly as strong as venison and had a much better texture. To me, venison has the texture of liver, but moose had a texture more like beef. I didn't even marinate it or season it heavily, I just presalted and high heat roasted, then sliced it very thinly. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I still have one all vacuum packed and frozen for the end of this pandemic, when Peppi comes to visit me again!

Annie

Thinking of fish for breakfast, kedgeree was originally a breakfast dish, though we only have it for dinner. Lovely.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/mothers-day/mothers-day-breakfast-and-brunch/kedgeree

Plllog, I'm so glad you don't eat bears 💗😁 I suppose in France their habitat is so reduced. Also, farmers are not happy about bears or wolves. I think the only European bear-friendly country is Roumania.

https://mossy.earth/rewilding-knowledge/romanias-brown-bears

I don't have a Banger recipe but my uncle used to own a butcher shop and one of his specialties was sausage. I have a book full of his recipes.. My favorite is his Hungarian Sausage recipe. I make 50 lbs. at a time for family get togethers and give everyone a "doggy" bag to take home.

There is a local whole animal butcher shop here that has some amazing sausages. Here's a partial list of today's:

North End

Roasted Garlic Parmesan

Bone Marrow Butter

Nashville Hot Chicken

Loaded Baked Potato

Big Modern Mac

Hot Toddy

Lemongrass Ginger Chicken

Great sausagey success last night!

I got hold of a great book called the complete art and science of sausage making by Tonia Reinhard.....Canadian I think. Very interesting read and great results. Lots of recipes too.

https://www.amazon.fr/Complete-Art-Science-Sausage-Making/dp/0778805352/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=The+complete+art+and+science+of+sausage+making&qid=1613547247&sr=8-1