It’s not just the fabled meat pie that Aussies hold sacred, it’s our sausage rolls too! There’s no messing about, no fussing or fiddling, making the Australian sausage roll is easy, and today, that’s what I’m going to walk you through.
We eat them anywhere and everywhere! At the beach, the cricket or footy, as a snack after school, or as party food. We’ll even eat them from the diciest looking service station on a long car trip. A sausage roll is one of those quintessential hand-held foods that’s good for all occasions; birthdays, wakes, children’s lunches, the lot.
So, given we like to tuck in to them, it’s probably a good thing they’re not hard to make. You’ll only need a few basic ingredients – all of which you’ll find your supermarket – and a few handing tips to keep it dinky-dye.
Living in the UK, it’s taken me a while to come to terms with the British sausage roll – that rather strange log shaped thing sold at Greggs. They’re just not the same, here they’re a little limp, sad, and lukewarm. Whilst I’m okay with warm sausage rolls, this almost cold congealed thing in display cabinets leaves a lot to be desired.
That’s why I’ve taken to making my own again. Because it’s easy, and my recipe has to be the best recipe for sausage rolls around. Are there any secrets to getting your sausage roll right? Absolutely, keep reading and I’ll let you in on a few of mine!
How to make Sausage Rolls
Here’s some helpful tips when it comes to thinking about how to make sausage rolls.
- The first relates to our environment. It’s usually pretty warm, even our winters! This is important, because you don’t want to have raw meat sitting out and going off. Whilst a mature steak is delicious, minced (ground for the US readers) meat that’s turned is potentially lethal. So keep it cool, and don’t dawdle.
- You’re going to want to make up the meat mixture first. Whilst this recipe uses a combination of pork and beef, you can use whatever you have. There’s no right or wrong, but the blend we recommend will give you the best flavour.
- Don’t be tempted to add in lots of fillers, like too much breadcrumbs, eggs, carrots and other vegetables – unless you’re a parent trying to get your kidlets to eat better. In which case, good luck! You want to build flavour, so think about your seasonings, herbs, salt and pepper, etc. But don’t go overboard, or you wont taste the beef and pork.
- Next, let’s talk about pastry. It has to be puff, or a homemade rough-puff. Don’t be tempted to use a shortcrust, and a ‘flaky’ might work at a pinch, but for the best results it has to be puff. Roll it out – if you don’t have large premade sheets – until it’s about 3-4mm thick. About the thickness of a mug coaster. Thinner than that, and it’ll disintegrate, thicker and it’ll take longer to cook and could burn.
- Finally, pack the meat, you have to make it firm and tight – loosely fitting meat in pastry will shrink, fall out, and be really messy. So, don’t be cheap, roll up your meat in the pastry nice and tight!
Australian Sausage Roll Ingredients
You’re not going to need anything special, just some beef and pork mince (ground meat), garlic, onions, tomato paste/puree, mustard (we suggest Dijon), olive oil, egg, milk, and puff pastry. Oh, and tomato sauce to serve! (aka, dead horse!)
Australian Sausage Roll Equipment
When it comes to the tools of the trade to make these awesome sausage rolls, that’s simple too! You’re going to want a mixing bowl, sharp knife, chopping board, frying pan, rolling pin, pastry brush, baking sheet, and parchment paper.
Once you have all of those, it’s time for the recipe!
Easy Australian Sausage Rolls
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Sharp knife
- Frying pan
- Mixing bowl
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
- 300 gr Beef mince
- 200 gr Pork mince
- 2 tsp Garlic, minced
- 200 gr Onions finely diced
- 30 ml Tomato paste/puree
- 20 ml Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 500 gr Puff pastry - ready to roll
- 1 Egg
- 60 ml Milk
- 20 ml Olive oil
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion, and gently sauté (fry) the onion and garlic in the frying pan with the olive oil. Then allow this to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 180˚C/375˚F/Gas mark 5.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients together, and work with your hands until they are all thoroughly combined - you should not be able to see strands of meat, and the onion is more or less disintegrated into the mix.
- If using a block of pastry: Roll out the pastry until it is 3-4mm thick.
- If using frozen pastry sheets (like we buy in Australia): just lay out the sheets as needed.
- Scoop up the meat mixture and lay it out in long sausages across one edge of the pastry.
- Take that meat lined edge and roll it across the pastry until completely enveloped - usually one to two rolls per sheet are achieved.
- You can make nibble sized sausage rolls by making the 'sausage' smaller in diameter, however this will require using more pastry!
- Cut the pastry encapsulated meat rolls to your desired size - longer for main meals, medium length for lighter meals, smaller for snacks, and bite size for appetizers.
- Place the rolls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and back for 25-30mins, or until fully puffed up and golden brown.
- When cooked, remove from the oven, and place on a cooling wire. They can now be enjoyed hot, warm, or cool as you prefer. Oh, and don't forget the tomato sauce!
Anyway, thanks for checking out this post on how to make an easy Australian sausage roll. I do hope you make some soon, and if you do, please come back and post a comment, or share a photo with the tag: #LarderPantryandGarden.
You can also follow LPaG on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube too!
This post may contain affiliate links