Homemade Sausage rolls to pam's sausage rolls & steamed BBQ pork buns

I went back to look at some of John Kirkwoods baking videos and came across this one for sausage rolls:

 

Sausages and pastry. Simple really. 

I'm not sure what it is, NZ sausages do not have the flavour of English Sausages, that said, it may be the chemicals they put in them in the UK. 

I like a sausage but recently I have found them not so appealing. But since I've had the air fryer I've been going mad on sausage rolls. The frozen ones from the supermarket, Pam's ones as they are the cheapest. 

One issue I have with Kiwis and mince, they always throw frozen veges in with them. Same with the sausage rolls!!!! I can't quite get the hang of that as a pom. 

Anyway, John Kirkwood uses sausages to make sausage meat and flaky pastry for the sausage rolls. Simple.

I was in Countdown supermarket and there were some sausages on special for $5.50, Italian pork sausages, 6 of them in the pack. So I bought them and some flaky pastry sheet, 6 sheets (1kg) for 4.50$. It was the countdown brand, not the Edmund's ones. So I got them as well. 

At home I took 3 sheets of the flaky pastry and cut them in half, then sliced the sausages down the middle, peeled the skins and put them in half of the pastry and rolled it up. 

I ended up with 6 sausage rolls, about the same length as the Pam's ones I get  for $5 for 4 of them.

A half of the pastry was too much for the sausage half. I need to trim off about 10mm at the end, so not enough for 3 per sheet, but too much for 2. 

In the air fryer, the pastry was not that fluffy, I had to use oil spray to brown the pastry. 

I have not been using any oil on the Pam's ones of late. They still seem to come out golden and puffed. 

Tasting

The ones I made definitely have a more flavoursome sausage filling. They are narrower than the sausage rolls from Pam's (only 1/2 a sausage thick. The flaky pastry does not puff as much as the Pam's ones

Arithmetic. 

Pam's rolls           =   $1.25 per roll

My made up ones = $1.29 per roll (only accounting for 3 sheets of pastry) 

And a bit of effort in the kitchen making them, but not a great deal

 So, Pam's are cheaper, more fluffy pastry but filling not as interesting. 

Made up ones, more flavoursome filling, but countdown pastry not very good. 

Conclusion on sausage rolls

The price differential is not that high. 

I think I'll do some more testing with some Edmund's flaky pastry to see if that is any better, or maybe even some filo pastry. 

That is the thing with sausages that I'm tasting a bit of chemical in them that I don't enjoy. I may try some Moore Wilson ones sometime to see if they are tasty without the chemical taste.

Steamed BBQ pork buns

There were single buns on special in PaknSave  for about $2 (The single ones are bigger than those in the pack of 4). 

You can microwave them for a minute and then eat them. No paper on their bottom, and I think they taste pretty authentic, light fluffy bun and the filling is pretty tasty too. A very fast snack, and not oil at all.

I got a pack of 4 at $7 , so about $1.75 each and snacked on them and finished them pretty quickly. 

The Asian Supermarket has a pack of 6 for $10.80. I will need to try those as they work out roughly the same price as the 4 pack on special.

 As a simple, quick snack they are pretty good. The 4 will fill you up. Not the cheapest but definitely convenient. I dont think I could make them very well, so to get a reasonable authentic tasting bun for that price is good. 

I'll have to see how much they charge at Yum Cha next time I go.