History

Founded by Patrick O'Flynn in the English Market in 1921 as a butcher and sausage maker, the stall is now run by Adrian and Sean O'Flynn, the fifth generation of the family. The shop produces over 30 sausage varieties built around free-range Cork and Tipperary pork, from the standard Cork breakfast sausage to specialities like the Toulouse, the chorizo, the merguez and the apple-and-leek. O'Flynn's runs a sit-down sandwich shop on Winthrop Street where the sausages go into baps with caramelised onion; the English Market counter remains the butcher and retail outlet. The 1921 spice mix has not changed in five generations.

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Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 1 hr 30 minTotal 13 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 1.6kg pork shoulder (75 percent lean, 25 percent fat), cubed
  • 400g pork back fat, cubed
  • 200ml Murphy's Irish Stout, well-chilled
  • 30g fine sea salt
  • 8g freshly ground black pepper
  • 6g dried sage
  • 6g dried thyme
  • 4g ground mace
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 120g coarse white breadcrumbs (rusk if available)
  • 3m natural hog casings, soaked in cold water 30 minutes
  • Equipment: meat grinder, sausage stuffer

Method

  1. Chill pork and back fat in the freezer for 30 minutes before grinding; cold fat is what gives a clean cut.
  2. Grind through a 6mm plate. Mix in salt, pepper, sage, thyme, mace, garlic, and breadcrumbs.
  3. Pour in the cold stout and mix by hand for 4 to 5 minutes until the mince becomes tacky; this is the protein bind.
  4. Fry a small patty to check seasoning. Adjust salt and pepper.
  5. Rinse the hog casings and load them onto the stuffer nozzle.
  6. Stuff slowly, avoiding air pockets. Twist into 15cm links by spinning every other sausage in opposite directions.
  7. Hang in the fridge uncovered overnight; this drying step gives the proper snap.
  8. To cook, prick once and pan-fry over medium-low heat for 14 minutes, turning often. Never high heat or the casing splits.

Tip from the editors. If you cannot source rusk, dried white breadcrumbs work; what matters is the cold mix and the overnight drying.

Where to eat o'flynn's gourmet sausages

O'Flynn's Gourmet Sausages in Cork

O'Flynn's Gourmet Sausages ★ 4.5

€ Gourmet sausages, Irish butcher, Street foodEnglish Market Quarter

A fourth-generation family business since 1921, O'Flynn's is Cork's most celebrated sausage maker. Over 50 varieties, with the Cork Boi as the flagship.

OrderCork Boi sausage in a roll - over a century of sausage-making expertise in a single bite.

Directions

English Market ★ 4.8

€ Irish, Artisan, Market foodEnglish Market Quarter

The 1788 covered market at Cork's culinary heart, with stalls passed down through generations. Tom Durcan Meats and O'Flynn's Sausages are the anchor trades.

OrderSliced hot spiced beef from Tom Durcan's stall by the fountain - the benchmark of Cork food culture and Cork's oldest surviving street food

Directions

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