Glamorgan Sausages (Selsig Morgannwg)

This recipe has few ingredients and at first glance appears like it could be rather bland, however it is one of the many gems that I have made several times from World Vegetarian Classics by Celia Brooks Brown. Given to me as a gift from my sister-in-law, this was one of the first vego cookbooks to adorn my shelves. Each chapter has an interesting introduction about the cuisine of the region followed by a focus on some dominant ingredients. Another thing to love is each recipe has it's own introduction some of which contains interesting facts or history, like the following...

"The true original vegetarian sausages with no high-tech meat mockery, these aren't far off modern 'analogue meat' and have a remarkable texture and flavour. In his diary of Welsh adventures from 1862, Wild Wales, George Borrow ate them in Glamorganshire, South Wales. Waking up to a miserable morning and having to put on still-wet clothes, the sausages cheered him up: 'The breakfast was delicious, consisting of excellent tea, buttered toast and Glamorgan sausages, which I really think are not a whit inferior to those of Epping.' (Epping sausages were a renowned pork sausage of the time.)"

Every time I pull out this book and browse to the Glamorgan sausage recipe, I always read about George Borrow's vego sausage experience in 1862 and it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

A few vegan substitutes were required this time around and I was hoping that the sausages would still work equally as well as their vegetarian counterpart. Ground flax seeds mixed with water were substituted for the eggs, soy milk for the milk, and cheezly plus nutritional yeast for the cheese.

The sausages did turn out just as nice as I previously recalled them to be. As bread is one of the major components of the recipe, they aren't really the type of sausage that you would want to have in a piece of bread. They are best served along with some mashed potatoes and veg, roasted vegies or salad. Fried onions are also a great compliment and we have always found that a good chutney/relish makes the best topping.

Glamorgan Sausages (Adapted from World Vegetarian Classics)

3 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 leek (white part only), finely chopped
50g grated cheezly
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds, mixed with 6 tablespoons water
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup cornflake crumbs or packaged breadcrumbs
Olive oil, for frying

Mix the fresh breadcrumbs, leek, cheezly, nutritional yeast, parsley, salt, pepper and mustard in a large bowl. Stir through the flax seeds/water mixture until well combined. Test the mixture by squeezing a little in your palm, If it's too crumbly to bind together, drizzle in a little soy milk.

Divide into 10-12 balls, then form each ball into a sausage shape. Toss each sausage in flour, shaking off the excess, then dunk into soy milk and coat with the cornflake/bread crumbs. Place the sausages on a plate and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Heat some oil in a frying pan over low-medium heat or warm up a BBQ grill. Add the chilled sausages and cook, turning gently until golden on all sides.

Serve with tomato relish/chutney, or tomato/BBQ sauce also works well.