Overview
Leek Sausage is a British fresh pork sausage in which leek is the defining flavouring. It is a broad butcher-shop variation rather than a regional protected product.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
The unqualified title should not be confused with Welsh lamb-and-leek sausage. Pork-and-leek is sold throughout Britain and has no single county of origin.
Composition and characteristics
Pork and fat are combined with chopped or cooked leek, rusk, pepper and often sage, thyme or mustard. Leek adds sweetness, moisture and visible green-white pieces.
Production and process
Leek must be cleaned carefully and managed for moisture before mixing with chilled meat. The sausage is stuffed into links and sold raw.
History and regional forms
Vegetable-flavoured sausages grew from household use of alliums and from modern British butcher innovation. Leek became especially popular because it pairs naturally with pork and carries a strong Welsh association without being exclusive to Wales.
Use, storage and related products
It is served with mash, gravy, roast vegetables or in casseroles. It differs from cabbage sausage and Welsh lamb sausage through its pork base and generic British identity.
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
- Pork shoulder
- Cut
- Pork shoulder
- Salt (%)
- 2
- 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 pork shoulder
- Style
- Fresh pork, leek and rusk sausage; cook before eating
Ingredients
- Pork shoulder100% · 1000 g
- Skinless pork belly35% · 350 g
- Leeks, washed, drained and finely chopped10.9% · 109 g
- Fine rusk8.7% · 127.5 g
- Ice-cold water15% · 218 g
- Fine salt1.9% · 27.5 g
- Ground white pepper0.25% · 3.5 g
- Ground nutmeg0.06% · 0.9 g
- Ground ginger0.06% · 0.9 g
Method
- Split and wash the leeks thoroughly to remove soil, drain well and chop finely.
- Mix rusk with the measured water and stand for 5 minutes.
- Chill pork, leeks, hydrated rusk and equipment to 0–4°C.
- Grind shoulder and belly together through 10 mm.
- Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, ginger, leeks and hydrated rusk; mix evenly.
- Pass the complete mixture through 5 mm.
Safety. Fresh leek does not extend shelf life. Keep the raw sausage chilled and cook completely.