Overview
Gloucester Sausage is an English fresh pork sausage associated with Gloucestershire and commonly described as sage-seasoned, coarse and linked historically with Gloucester Old Spot pork.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
The name is customary but not protected. Gloucester sausage should therefore be described as a regional style rather than a legally fixed formula. Claims that it must use Gloucester Old Spot pork are traditional or marketing positions, not universal law.
Composition and characteristics
Pork shoulder and belly or back fat are combined with bread or rusk and a prominent sage seasoning, sometimes supported by thyme, pepper, nutmeg or mace. The cut face is coarser than many mass-market bangers.
Production and process
The pork is coarsely minced, mixed with hydrated binder and herbs and stuffed into hog casing. It is sold raw and cooked by frying, grilling or baking.
History and regional forms
Gloucestershire's mixed farming and pig-keeping traditions supported local pork butchery. The Gloucester Old Spot breed, known for orchard grazing, became a powerful modern symbol of the county's sausage even though recipes and meat sourcing vary.
Use, storage and related products
It is served with mash, cider gravy or breakfast foods. It is related to Lincolnshire sausage through sage but keeps its own Gloucestershire identity and pork-breed association.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, run it through one of our curing calculators so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →“Make this” opens the same cure as a measured recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- Gloucester Old Spot or other pork shoulder
- Cut
- Gloucester Old Spot or other pork shoulder
- Salt (%)
- 2.5
- Curing salt
- None
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- Raw sausage ≤4°C for up to 2 days; freeze for longer storage
- Basis
- per 1,000 g gloucester old spot or other pork shoulder
- Style
- Fresh sage-flavoured pork and rusk sausage
Ingredients
- Gloucester Old Spot or other pork shoulder100% · 1000 g
- Pork back fat45% · 450 g
- Fine rusk22.9% · 333.5 g
- Ice-cold water30.6% · 444.5 g
- Fine salt2.5% · 36.5 g
- Ground black pepper0.3% · 4.5 g
- Rubbed sage0.4% · 4.5 g
- Dried thyme0.15% · 2 g
- Ground mace0.08% · 1 g
Method
- Mix rusk with the measured water and stand for 5 minutes.
- Chill pork, fat, rusk and equipment to 0–4°C.
- Grind pork and fat through 5 mm.
- Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, mace and hydrated rusk.
- Pass the complete mixture through 5 mm.
- Stuff into 36 mm hog casings and form links.
Safety. Raw pork sausage requiring refrigeration and full cooking.