To many the title of this post is a nonsensical string of food-related words. However, to anyone that went to Berkeley High School (now the Illawarra Sports High School) in Berkeley, New South Wales, Australia in the 70s, 80s, and beyond the buttered bun sausage roll with sauce is a nostalgic food memory.
Created by an unknown (at least to me) brilliant food service worker sometime during the 1970s, the buttered bun sausage roll with sauce is unique to Berkeley High School’s canteen (aka tuck shop) and has nourished generations of appreciative teenagers.
The first, and arguably most important of the ingredients in this creation is a bakery-fresh crusty french-style bun with a golden brown yeasty and crunchy crust and a soft crumb moistened with softened butter. Into this bun is stuffed a single piping hot sausage roll, finely ground pork, lightly seasoned and encased in a crust of short pastry then baked until golden brown and flaky. Tomato sauce (ketchup to my American friends) is the fourth and final ingredient that is slathered over the sausage roll before the bun is closed and the end product wrapped in a sheet of grease-proof paper and handed to the salivating customer. This unlikely combination of ingredients creates a whole that is much more than the sum of its parts; individually each is a beloved food item but together they transcend their identities. Crunchy, soft, buttery, savory, sweet and unique.
While I do not miss high school one iota, I do sometimes miss this unique culinary treat from my childhood.
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