The culture of the Brabant sausage roll

The Brabant sausage roll consists of a roll of spiced minced meat, wrapped in white bread dough. It is eaten at special occasions, like Christmas night. Part of the tradition is the way in which the sausage roll is eaten: the cosy togetherness with friends of family. The sausage roll is well-known throughout North-Brabant and linked to the identity. Every butcher has his own recipe to season the minced meat and every baker bakes the bread in his own fashion. Next to the professional sausage roll bakers, there are also many home bakers. Baking sausage rolls with the kids or the grandchildren, contributes to the family-spirit. Every year some twenty-five million sausage rolls are consumed, so the tradition is still vividly alive.

In fact, the community of the sausage roll consists of all the inhabitants of the province of Brabant, except vegetarians. The community of the Brabant sausage roll is formed by the producers, i.e. the (pig) farmers, slaughterers, butchers and (home) bakers. The consumers are naturally very important. The Brabant Broadcasting Service annually reports on the competition ‘The Most Tasty Brabant Sausage Roll’, and is also one of the organising parties. The match is organised by teachers of several regional education centres, who teach their students how to bake tasty sausage rolls.

The Brabant sausage roll one day evolved as a means to preserve meat longer by wrapping it with dough and baking it. Nobody knows how old this custom is. It was in any case known at the beginning of the twentieth century as a delicacy when people returned from the church at Christmas. In the past, the meat consisted mainly of waste of, for instance, home slaughter. The sausage roll was particularly eaten at special occasions, like after Midnight Mass at Christmas,  teeravonden (local expression for evenings where the small change was spent), during carnival and fairs. Eating sausages at festivals is a relatively new trend. Nowadays they are eaten throughout the year, but the peaks in the consumption are still reached during carnival and other feasts. The filling usually consists of lean minced pork. The sausage rolls are now much more widely available, even at supermarkets. There are also some varieties for sale, although there are people who do not consider these as real sausage rolls. To pass on the tradition and particularly to make young people acquainted with the culture around the (baking and consuming of the) sausage rolls, the competition ‘Who makes the Most Tasty Brabant Sausage Roll’ has been organised since 1995. The purpose of this competition is to bake Brabant sausage rolls according to the traditional recipe, by hand. Another goal of the match is to keep improving the quality. The competition has three categories: professional bakers and butchers, home bakers and students.

 2022-2024

• By means of media attention on radio, TV and social media, attention is generated for the Brabants Sausage Roll in order to ensure even more participants in the competition.         
• Providing lectures in schools (or on request at people's homes) about how the sausage roll can be eaten, cold, hot, specific eating timoments.
• Organizing an annual contest 'The tastiest sausage roll in Brabant'.
• Research is being done into whether a quality mark can be created for the traditional Brabant sausage roll.
• Workshops will be given at the museum of bakeries in Luijksgestel.
• The research into the history and the recipe will be continued.
• The existing contacts with the current partners will be continued.
• Close contact will be kept with the directors of the participating schools because of changes and developments there.
• For people who do not eat meat or pork, a new element will be added to the competition: 'The Innovative Sausage Roll'.
• Workshops are organized.
• The compliance with the prevailing food safety rules is carefully monitored.
• The possibilities for subsidies are being investigated

  2019-2021

• By means of media attention on radio, TV and social media, attention is generated for the Brabant Sausage Roll in order to ensure even more participants in the competition.
• Providing lectures in schools (or on request in people's homes) on how the sausage roll can be eaten, cold, hot, specific meal times
• Organizing an annual contest 'The tastiest sausage roll in Brabant'.
• Research is being done into whether a quality mark can be created for the traditional Brabant sausage roll.
• Workshops will be given at the bakery museum in Luijksgestel.
• Work is being done to set up a proper archiving system.
• A recipe bank was set up to record recipes and working methods and to pass them on to posterity.
• We continue to look for cooperation partners.
• Annual competitions are organized.
• Workshops are organized.