A British thing, not a universal one
Ask an American what a pig in a blanket is and they will describe a cocktail sausage rolled inside pastry. In Britain, the name means something quite different: a chipolata wrapped in streaky bacon and roasted until the bacon tightens and crisps around it. The two share a name and a spirit — small, porky, informal — but the method and the result are their own.
The British version has become genuinely embedded in Christmas dinner, less a garnish than a ritual. The combination of fat, salt and char holds up against the richness of everything else on the plate, and their size means they get passed around, argued over and almost always run out first.
What the chipolata actually is
A chipolata is simply a small, thin sausage. What matters is that a good one behaves like a proper British banger: a high proportion of coarsely minced pork, seasoned with pepper, mace and sometimes herbs, held together with a natural casing that gives a snap when you bite through the bacon.
The sausage label matters enormously. A cheap chipolata can be as little as forty or fifty per cent meat; a butcher's chipolata, made to a traditional recipe, will be considerably higher — and it will taste like it. High-meat sausages shrink less, hold their shape inside the bacon, and deliver a dense, porky bite rather than a pale, squashy interior. Our piece on reading sausage labels covers the specifics of meat content declarations and what the different percentage thresholds actually mean.
Why the bacon choice matters
Streaky bacon is the correct cut: thin rashers of belly bacon, with enough fat to baste the sausage as everything cooks and enough structure to wrap cleanly without tearing. But there is a split in streaky bacon that makes a real difference to the finished result.
Wet-cured bacon — by far the most common kind in supermarkets — has been cured in a brine injection that adds a significant amount of water to the meat. In a hot oven, that water steams out before the bacon can colour, leaving soggy, pallid rashers and a pool of grey liquid in the tray. Dry-cured streaky loses far less moisture, so it renders, crisps and clings to the sausage properly. It costs a little more, but the difference in the tin is dramatic. We covered the distinction between dry and wet curing in a separate article — worth reading if texture matters to you.
Making them ahead
Pigs in blankets are straightforward to prepare in advance. Assembling them the day before — wrapping each chipolata tightly, laying them in the roasting tin, covering and refrigerating overnight — means they go into the oven cold and firm, which helps the bacon stay in place. The cold fat also takes slightly longer to begin rendering, producing a more even result than rashers that go in at room temperature and start to loosen immediately.
They also suit a higher temperature than the turkey, which is usually occupying the oven at a more moderate heat. A separate smaller tin, slid in near the top for the final stretch of the turkey's resting time, gives the bacon a chance to crisp without the sausage drying out. Timing will depend on the size of your chipolatas and the behaviour of your oven, so keep an eye rather than following a fixed rule.
Where to find good ones
An independent butcher is the most reliable source for both components. Many make their own chipolatas specifically for Christmas, and they are more likely to stock dry-cured streaky than a standard supermarket shelf. Some sell ready-assembled pigs in blankets — a reasonable shortcut if you trust their sourcing, though it is worth asking whether the bacon is dry-cured, because that detail will determine whether what comes out of the oven is worth the space on the plate.
Farmers' markets in November and early December are another good option. Small producers often sell both chipolatas and cured streaky, and questions about provenance are usually easy to raise at a market stall.
