My breakfast of sausages are slowly baking in the oven as I commence this offering. Their destination, prior to entering my mush, two slices of brown bread sitting on a plate kitchen in situ.
Ordinarily, I’d employ a swifter method of shallow frying during the food preparation process. A method that provides the added benefit of producing a cooking aroma almost as inviting as the brekkie itself. However, as I’m multi-tasking (ie, also writing this prose) I’ve opted for the lower maintenance oven cooking method.
When it comes to preparation of sausage sandwiches I’m strictly old school in my approach; only utilising pork meat and two slices of bread as ingredients. At times of rebelliousness I may add tomato or brown sauce. Other than that, though, I endeavour to ensure no further additives sully my recipe.
Unlike my son Jonny, who loves to infuse flavour into traditional meals by adding an innovative contemporary spin, my culinary mantra is ‘If the recipe isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it’.
Jonny wouldn’t countenance producing a sausage butty as bland as his father. He’d have to ‘upgrade’ the sandwich’s essence with hickory, chicory and anything else he could find ending in ‘ory’. Cooking it in French goose fat, before serving the meal on a bed of honey roasted parsnips.
My son’s innovative breakfast may taste appealing and his presentation may also kick mine’s ass. However, I’m not convinced I’d enjoy it’s consumption more than my uncomplicated traditional offering.
Does a simplistic approach in the kitchen, passed down through generations, render the fodder any less fulfilling? Or indeed, does it provide poorer nutritional and dietary attributes than my offspring’s modernised culinary option?
My late dad’s mantra when it came to cooking sausages was to grill them (as opposed to frying or oven baking) and serve them, like me, in an old school fashion – Free of additional herbs, spices or condiments…. With the exception of red/brown sauce or mustard.
His approach very simplistic, but not without a controlling fly in the ointment caused by his OCD. This foible an insistence the sausages MUST be grilled for exactly twelve minutes. Failure to conform with his edict resulting in the food not reaching the dining table without exchanging a few words with his co-chef.
Even when he was very poorly in the later weeks of his life, dad would hover next to whoever was grilling the sausage’s, ensuring his twelve minute cooking time edict was adhered to by the letter. Along with an insistence the correct sized grill pan was being utiised.
As I start this paragraph, I’ve just returned from a break to eat my aforementioned breakfast. As expected, my simple recipe produced a fulfilling inaugural meal of the day, even without infusion from chicory, hickory or anything else ending with ‘ory’.
Even dropping one of the items of cooked meat on the floor prior to serving didn’t diminish it’s deliciousness. That being said, bereft of my glasses, I nearly inadvertently replaced the floor residing sausage with the dog’s chew toy. Mercifully, though, my wife was on hand to save the day….. Although, as we’ve not got a dog, we’re unsure where the chew toy came from!!
Despite my Luddite approach to cuisine preparation, thankfully, it isn’t endorsed by the majority with a culinary passion. I fully understand everything must evolve, including food creativity, along with a diner’s willingness to embrace new tastes and cultures.
That being said, though, this morning I didn’t half enjoy my boring old school sausage sarnie!
