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Veal Sausages
Take equal quantities of lean veal and fat bacon. Mince finely, and to every pound of meat add a tea-spoonful of minced sage and a little pepper and salt. Mix these ingredients thoroughly. Bind the mixture together with yolk of egg, and form it into rolls or flat cakes, and fry or bake these in the usual way. Two or three anchovies may be added to the mince if approved.
This is a skinless sausage — forcemeat seasoned and shaped by hand — so there is no casing work and no curing. The whole thing hinges on keeping the mixture cold and not over-seasoning against the bacon.
- Salt comes from the baconEqual weights of fat bacon and lean veal means the mix is already salty before you add anything. Season lightly, fry a teaspoon of the mixture as a tester, then adjust the rest.
- "Fat bacon"Most likely a fatty cut such as streaky belly bacon, or plain salt pork fat, rather than anything lean. Modern lean back bacon will give a dry, crumbly sausage; use fatty streaky bacon or unsmoked pork belly with a little salt.
- MincingA food processor works, but pulse in short bursts with the meat and bacon well chilled — near-frozen is better. Warm fat smears and the cooked sausage turns greasy and grainy.
- The binder"Yolk of egg" is vague: one yolk per pound of meat is enough to hold rolls or cakes together. More than that and the texture goes custardy. A tablespoon of fresh breadcrumbs helps if the mix feels loose.
- SageA teaspoon of minced fresh sage per pound is the intent. If using dried, halve it — dried sage is far more assertive and can turn medicinal.
- AnchoviesThe optional two or three are whole salted anchovies as then sold, so allow for roughly twice that number of modern fillets. They act as a savoury seasoning rather than a fish flavour; mash them to a paste first and cut back the added salt accordingly.
- "Fry or bake in the usual way"Fry flat cakes in a little dripping or oil over medium heat, about 4 minutes a side, or bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, turning once. Pork and veal forcemeat should reach 160F at the centre.
- YieldOne pound of meat plus one pound of bacon makes roughly eight to ten flat cakes, enough for four as a main course with potatoes.
Sausages without skins appear in household cookery of the period alongside cased ones, which may be why this recipe can be called a sausage while giving no instruction about gut or bladder. Veal and sage is an old English pairing -- sage was long associated with stuffings for veal and pork alike -- and the direction to add anchovies reflects the nineteenth-century habit of using salted fish, essence of anchovy or mushroom ketchup wherever a dish needed depth without meat stock.