A sausage roll is a type of convenience food commonly served at parties and available from bakeries and milk bars as a takeaway food item. The basic formula for a sausage roll is generally a sheet of puff pastry sliced into two and wrapped into tubes around a filling based on sausage meat, blended with softer ingredients such as soaked bread, onion and egg, before being cooked. They can be served either hot or cold. Some variations on the basic recipe include chopped vegetables and other seasonings such as herbs and spices. Sausage Rolls may be served in various lengths from 1 or 2 inches (2.5 or 5 centimetre) socalled "party" or "cocktail" sausage rolls, up to 6 or 7 inch (15 to 18 centimetre) 'Jumbo' sausage rolls. In Northern Ireland, Australia and Holland, they have been known to be sold as large as 12 inches (30 centimetres) long. A more gourmet version of the sausage roll is made by using some variety of sausage or frankfurter as the filling. When the filling consists of beef fillet the dish is known as "Beef Wellington".
References in society
Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke includes two songs and considerable dialogue about eating sausage rolls as a sign of membership in a secret society. In Australia, children (and adults) sometimes sing the main chorus as "It's a long way to the shop if you wanna sausage roll" in AC/DC's song It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll). In the "Kid's commentary" on the DVD for School of Rock one of the kids quotes this line when the song is played during the end credits.
