Pigs In Blankets

Pigs in Blankets are now so popular that there’s a dedicated Pigs in Blankets Day, and over 128 million of the festive staple are served on Christmas Day alone. So, this week we are looking at this great culinary tradition and how it differs around the world. 

Our own Lidgate Pigs in Blankets are made with free range pork cocktail sausages, made with our low-salt recipe, carefully wrapped in smoked streaky bacon and are one of the most popular dishes in December and a great crowd pleaser for any party.
 
While they are firmly established as a British favourite, they take on a slightly different look elsewhere in the world.

In the US, pigs in blankets are typically small sausages wrapped not in bacon but in croissant or biscuit dough.

 
 
In Germany, they are known as Würstchen im Schlafrock which translates as Sausage in a Dressing Gown, and it also comprises of a sausage wrapped in puff pastry, which cheese often added into the mix.
 
 
Mexican pigs in blankets are sausages wrapped in tortillas and deep fried in vegetable oil, and they’re known as Salchitaco meaning Sausage Taco. And in China they are known as Lap Cheong Bao and is a pastry encased sausage which is steamed rather than baked.
 
In fact, some believe that they were originally an Asian invention, seeing as there is a longstanding history of putting fish into pastry and then we replaced the fish with sausages. Others believe it started in the US, where the name Pigs in Blankets was also used to describe oysters drained and pickled, and wrapped in bacon, which are known today as Angels on Horseback, and that then got converted to the sausage and bacon we know today.
 
Wherever they originated – we believe that the Lidgate version is the best and certainly the thing to buy for any Christmas or New Year’s parties you are having this December and January.