Dec 12

Dec 12 National Pigs in Blankets Day

Christmas, Food History, Musings, Robert Jones, Sausages

So yes … there is a National Pigs in Blankets Day, and in the UK, it’s today the 12th December. Though for some reason the Americans celebrate this culinary master stroke on April 24th. But to be honest, why not have two days to celebrate what has become a staple of Christmas dinners and festive nibble parties.

Let’s have a quick run down of facts you never knew you wanted to know.

Pigs in Blankets also go by the names of Devils on Horseback, Kilted Sausages and Kilted Soldiers. In the States they are known as Wesley Dogs. In Germany you’ll need to ask for Sausages in Dressing Gowns.
They are primarily enjoyed in the British Isles, though you’ll find variants in other countries such as Pølse i svøb in Denmark, Berner Würstel in Germany and Austria, and Blanne Jang in Luxembourg.
Not to be confused with an American dish of the same name which is more akin to a sausage roll, and a Gołąbki in Poland which are stuffed cabbage rolls. Draw veil, move on.
Most people identify them with Christmas Dinner with an estimated 400 million pigs eaten on Christmas Day in the UK alone.
Traditionally they should be cocktail-sized chipolata sausages wrapped in streaky bacon.
Some people credit Delia Smith with popularising them after she included them in a recipe book in the 1990s, though they do appear in a kid’s recipe book in the States back in 1957.
Spin-offs include Pigs in Blankets flavour peanuts and crisps, and also flavoured mayo.
Supermarket ALDI created a six metre long pig to mark the opening of their pop-up Pigs in Blankets restaurant in Islington in London. It contained 150 rashers of bacon and could feed up to 133 people. It weighted 3.2 kilos.
In December 2019 a fisn’n’chip shop in Cleethorpes started selling what they called the ‘world’s largest’ battered pigs in blankets. At 2 feet long, they were so big they called the Hogs in Duvets instead.