Currabinny Cooks: How to cook up an affordable midweek dinner - with sausages

Sausages are pretty much an Irish staple, apparently we eat 15,000 of them a year. Always reliably in the fridge when we fancy a fry up or sausage sambo. Beyond the realms of breakfasts and quick snacks, sausages are actually incredibly useful. They are great for barbecuing, casseroles, cassoulets, coddle, stews, pasta, sandwiches, canapés and of course in stuffing.

Sausages are generally made with a lot of the cheap cuts and bits and pieces that might otherwise be thrown away which is both encouraging as far as the economy of food goes but also a little worrying when you imagine what goes into some very cheaply made sausages. A good butchers will generally make their sausages using a high percentage of pork and will use an equal ratio of cheaper bits and pieces along with more considered cuts like shoulder or belly.