Hear ye, hear ye, gather round, fellow food enthusiasts! Today, we’re embarking on an enlightening journey through the turbulent history of the British banger, the essential British breakfast sausage. This chap is not just an everyday sausage, oh no, it’s an international celebrity, known far and wide as the ‘banger.’ The term ‘banger’ doesn’t refer to one type of sausage, rather it’s an umbrella term used for any British sausage. As such, depending on which slice of Blighty you find yourself in, your full English breakfast could feature an assortment of bangers.
THE BIRTH OF THE BANGER
The curious nomenclature of our beloved sausages has a history as rich and explosive as its flavours. The term ‘bangers’ can be traced back to the war era when sausages had a bit of a dangerous habit: they exploded while being cooked! The term emerged during the First World War, becoming the slang term for a sausage at the time.
Why did these sausages burst while cooking? Well, the answer lies in a concoction of wartime restrictions and cooking techniques. The sausage skin often shrank during cooking, leading to the infamous ‘bang’ if the sausages weren’t pricked prior to cooking. Add to this the unfortunate need to fill the sausages with cheap fillers due to wartime meat shortages, and you have yourself an unpredictable breakfast item. These fillers, heavy on fat, expanded rapidly under heat, causing the sausages to rupture violently while cooking. Hence, the term ‘bangers’ was born, perfectly capturing the exciting, albeit hazardous, cooking experience of the time.
BANGERS THROUGH THE AGES
While the term ‘bangers’ made its appearance as far back as 1919, it was during the Second World War that it really caught on. Once again, meat shortages led to sausages being filled with cheap alternatives, making them more susceptible to an explosive end unless their skin was punctured before cooking. To this day, if you add a generous amount of fat to your sausage filling, don’t be surprised if you hear a bang in your kitchen!
However, the term ‘bangers’ in modern usage seems to have been confined to the classic dish ‘bangers & mash’. One would be hard-pressed to hear a British patron requesting ‘three bangers with their breakfast’ or a ‘banger sandwich’. It appears that we, Brits, don’t really refer to sausages as bangers outside of the iconic dish. Nevertheless, ‘bangers’ continue to be a popular term for referring to British sausages among our international friends.
For those adventurous souls who fancy making their own bangers, head over to our recipes section. There you can find a cracking banger recipe, perfect for crafting your very own homemade version of the legendary British banger. So, happy cooking and remember, an unexpected bang might just mean you’ve nailed the authentic banger experience!
