I was scrolling through some vintage advertising websites when I came across one from, I think, Betty Crocker during World War II. Some foods, like meat, were rationed, so there were lots of articles and advertisements, even whole cook books, dedicated to making more with less. This one was called “Pig in a Poke” and called for baking a pound of sausage in a Yorkshire Pudding. It was stooopidly simple to toss together and, while I did not have link sausages, I did have some linguiça in the freezer.
INGREDIENTS
•1 lb sausage*
•2 eggs, beaten well
•1 cup milk
•1 cup flour
•1/4 tsp salt
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
*The original recipe called for “one pound of link sausage” which I assumed to be breakfast sausage. My 12 ounce packet of Wisconsin style linguiça made for a fine substitute, but required a little quick thinking after the first ten minutes of baking.
Good thing I had that jar of duck fat.
Heat your oven to 475º and arrange your sausage of choice in a 7×11 inch baking pan. I pierced my linguiça in several spots to encourage fat to flow…
Pop into the hot oven for ten minutes, then remove and reset the temperature to 350º.
Pour off half of the fat… hmmm, I had none to pour off, even after piercing the linguiça, so, quicklikeabunny, I added three tablespoons of that lovely duck fat into the pan and set it aside to melt while the oven reset and I put together the pudding.
Whisk the eggs together with the milk, then add the flour, salt, and Aleppo pepper and stir until you have a smooth, lump-free batter.
Pour over the sausages and melted fat, then pop into the 350º for 35 minutes.
What comes out is, let us speak clearly here, a thing of beauty.
Nicely roasted sausages in a puffy pastry flavored with that duck fat (or sausage grease, if you’ve used breakfast sausages).
I did sprinkle a bit of freshly grated Snowfields cheese over mine and allowed it to melt a bit before serving. You do what you like, but most everything is better with cheese.
And duck fat.