On April 24, observe National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day with just a few ingredients. Celebrated across the world, the term often refers to a variety of different dishes. In the United States, Pigs-in-a-Blanket are often hot dogs or sausages wrapped in biscuit or croissant dough and baked. Pigs-in-a-Blanket are generally served as an appetizer or as breakfast. However, it can be served any mealtime!
They’ve been a mainstay of children’s cuisine in America for generations and can be found in local variations all over the world. While the concept is simple, the execution can be surprisingly complex, and with such delicious variety, you’ll never get tired of what seems a basic treat!
You simply take a sausage and wrap it!
Usually, you’ll find them wrapped in some form of pastry, with puff pastry being one of the most universally popular. Unsurprising given that the rich meaty flavor and texture of the sausage plays beautifully with the flaky delicate flavor of the puff pastry! But that’s hardly the only thing it’s wrapped in, in Mexico, they are known as Salchitaco’s, a portmanteau of salchica (which means sausage) and the almost universally recognizable taco, and are wrapped in tortillas before being dunked into sizzling hot vegetable oil.
One of the most unique varieties can be found in China, where the meat is wrapped in a pastry that is steamed instead of being fried or baked. There it’s known as “Lap Cheong Bao”. Perhaps our favorite international variation is the nakkipiilo, which is the Finnish word for what we know as Pigs-in-a-Blanket, and means, cleverly enough “hidden sausage”. Needless to say in each of these areas there are local variations that make them stand out as a dish all their own!
- The first written record of Pigs-in-a-Blanket occurs in Betty Crocker’s Cooking for Kids in 1957.
- Pigs-in-a-Blanket are also known as devils on horsebacks, kilted sausages, and wiener winks.
- In the United Kingdom, pigs in blankets are small sausages, or chipolatas wrapped up in bacon.
- In America, Pigs-in-a-Blanket often refers to hot dogs, Vienna sausages, or breakfast sausages wrapped in biscuit dough, croissant dough or a pancake and then baked.
- You can combine these dishes by wrapping your sausage in bacon, then cooking them into a biscuit or croissant.
- Pigs-in-a-Blanket are usually different from sausage rolls, which are a larger, more filling item served for breakfast and lunch in parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and, more rarely, the United States and Canada.
- The name can also refer to klobasnek (a kind of kolache filled with sausage or ham slices). The German Würstchen im Schlafrock (“sausage in a dressing gown“) uses sausages wrapped in puff pastry, or, more rarely, pancakes. Cheese and bacon are sometimes present.
- In Russia, this dish is named Сосиска в тесте (Sosiska v teste, “sausage in dough“).
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