Name: Cumberland Sausage
Yield: Makes 2–3 Good-Sized Cumberlands
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Butter, lard or cooking oil, for frying; 2–3 metres (2–3 yards) sausage skins, soaked and washed in water; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme; 100 g (4 oz) white breadcrumbs; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage; 450 g (1 lb) lean shoulder pork, cut into rough dice; 250 g (9 oz) pork belly, rind removed, cut into rough dice; 125 g (4½ oz) rindless pork back fat, cut into rough dice; 1 teaspoon ground white pepper; 2 teaspoons salt; Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg; Pinch of cayenne pepper

Preparation info

Makes
2–3
Good-Sized Cumberlands

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

New British Classics

By Gary Rhodes

Published 1999

About

This is probably one of the most famous of British sausages, thought to be the meatiest of them all. Some butchers in Cumberland actually claim they are made with 98 per cent pork. But there are a number of people who feel that the real Cumberland has long gone. The sausages were once made from a special breed of pig and they say its last sow died in 1960.

The most instantly recognizable feature of Cumberland sausage is that it is not twisted into individual sausages, but made in lo