Baked Sausages

A plain chafing-dish-era supper dish: sausages baked with bread fingers that soak up the fat and stand in for toast. The original gives no oven setting, so the timing is the part that needs attention.

• Oven temperatureNone is stated. A hot oven, roughly 400-425F, is a reasonable modern reading of the fifteen-minute timing; at a moderate 350F expect the sausages to take appreciably longer and the bread to dry rather than crisp.
• Fifteen minutes is optimisticFifteen minutes is optimistic for modern sausages -- the timing suggests smaller, thinner links than are usual now. Thicker links will need substantially longer; cook to 160F at the centre and judge by that rather than the clock.
• PrickingPiercing the casings keeps them from splitting and releases the fat the recipe wants for basting. It also dries the sausage somewhat, which is the trade the original accepts in exchange for the bread being properly enriched.
• The bread stripsCut them the same length as the sausages, as the recipe directs; it says nothing about the kind of bread or its thickness, so a firm loaf that will hold up to the fat is the safe choice. Turn them once so both cut faces take up fat, or they will brown on one side and stay pale on the other.
• "Baking-dish"Probably a shallow tin or earthenware dish rather than a deep casserole. Depth traps steam and the bread goes soft, so a sheet pan or shallow roasting tin is the closer modern equivalent.
• Madeira sauceIn books of this period this means a brown sauce or demi-glace finished with Madeira off the heat, not a wine reduction on its own. A good jarred demi-glace loosened with stock and a splash of dry or medium Madeira is a fair substitute.
• YieldA dozen sausages with their bread serves four as a main course at lunch or supper, six if part of a larger meal.