Brits’ like rusk, even though they don’t want to

Everyone likes the idea of an almost 100% pork sausage, it seems healthier and more wholesome. But, when you eat them, they just don’t seem right and there is nothing you can do about it. They are sickly and greasy.

Some rusk, which is a kind of unleavened bread that is dried and ground up, is as integral to the taste of a good sausage as the pork, salt and pepper. Additionally, it holds some of the fat, which means the sausage stays moist without tasting fatty.

Start with good pork

Sausages are perceived as a dumping ground for the meat that’s texture or taste wouldn’t be acceptable without grinding or flavouring.

You can’t hide poor tasting pork in sausage. However much you season and spice, the sausage will be lacking in flavour, and a good sausage should have a chunky texture, not the smooth one needed to hide gristly pork.

Use white pepper with Pork

White pepper works with the pork’s flavour better than black. It doesn’t intrude on the pork, like black does, but still massively enhances it.

Don’t stuff you sausage with a mincer

Most home mincers have a sausage stuffing attachment. If you want to have texture in your sausage, which you do, avoid using your mincer and splash out £20 on a separate stuffer.

When you stuff with a mincer, the meat will go through slower than the mechanism rotates, which means it will turn it to a pulp, resulting in a smooth sausage.

By Callum Heckstall-Smith, who is the founder of Heckstall & Smith.