Hands up who likes bangers and mash, and who knows exactly what I’m talking about?
Hands up who knows where the word bangers comes from? I mean, it’s an odd description.
Turns out, they really did explode back in the day.
The term was found out as far back as 1919. Sausages were often a cheap cut, padded with fillers such as fat and water, which when heated expanded rapidly causing the sausages … sorry, bangers … to burst open violently in the pan. Cheap casings probably didn’t help.
It’s why you had to prick them all over with a fork back in the day, but with improved recipes, it’s no longer necessary. Also the skins are all man-made (no more intestines) which are more likely to dissolve than explode. Here’s cheers to that.
Cooking skills probably have improved as well, with many people realising sausages benefit from a lower heat.
I can’t be the only child of the 80s whose dad cooked everything on high until it was charcoal on the barbie. You knew it was a sausage if it was stick-like and a hamburger if it was round. Which was weird, because he liked his roasts so rare.
As for why they are called snags, well that’s a bit more nebulous. The Australian National University claims it’s derived from a British dialect word meaning a morsel or a light meal, but they don’t say what that word is.
Other early Australian slang words for sausage were snarler and snork. I say we bring them back and urge everyone to ask for a snork at their next barbecue. You may get a slap, but totally worth it.
Do you still prick your sausages?
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