Sergio and Mimsy are flying solo in the kitchen: no grown-ups, no guides, just a little curiosity and a lot of pastry dough! Join The Accent Explorer™ team as they tackle Matilda the Kangaroo’s family recipe for Australia’s favorite snack: sausage rolls. From onion tears to golden, flaky triumphs, this episode turns kitchen experiments into world-class adventures. Perfect for curious kids (and hungry parents!) ready to taste the world right from home.
Download the Sausage Roll Recipe HERE:
Sergio and Mimsy are flying solo in the kitchen: no grown-ups, no guides, just a little curiosity and a lot of pastry dough! Join The Accent Explorer™ team as they tackle Matilda the Kangaroo’s family recipe for Australia’s favorite snack: sausage rolls. From onion tears to golden, flaky triumphs, this episode turns kitchen experiments into world-class adventures. Perfect for curious kids (and hungry parents!) ready to taste the world right from home.
SERGIO: Hi There. I’m Sergio, The Accent Explorer. Today takes us back to one of the happiest places on earth…Australia! And I’m extra excited because my big trip down under is only a couple of weeks away! I’m doing everything that I can to get in the Aussie mood! That’s why I’ve got my cooking apron on, because I’m going to be in the kitchen making one of Australia’s favorite dishes: sausage rolls! But these aren’t just any sausage rolls, they’re my friend Matilda the Kangaroo’s family recipe!
In fact, Matilda’s Nanna has been cooking these sausage rolls for her and her entire family since she was a joey. (That’s a little kangaroo!) These days, Matilda’s Aunt has taken over as the family's Sausage Roll Queen. I can already smell the pastry and hear the sizzle! Now, every good chef needs a helper in the kitchen and my best pal, Mimsy the Mockingbird, is ready to jump in!
MIMSY: G’Day!
SERGIO: So as a reminder, usually for our cooking episodes, we have someone to guide us through the cooking process. Someone who has cooked the meal over, and over, and over again. But today, we’re doing things a little differently. We’re going solo! Instead of Ms. Sallie or Ms. Nkiru showing us the ropes, today it’s just me, Mimsy, and a little curiosity to lead the way. And cooking without a guide is completely okay, because we don’t always have someone nearby to show us how to cook a recipe from a new culture. The best part is, just like us today, you can explore the flavors of the world right from your own kitchen. All you need is a few ingredients, and a grownup to help you choose your next destination. What do you say, Mimsy? Next step Australia?
MIMSY: Let’s Roll!
SERGIO: Time to sausage roll! This dish is super easy and very kid (and joey) friendly. It only has five main ingredients. Alright, kitchen buddy, let’s check our ingredients before we start! Four slices of bread.
MIMSY: Check!
SERGIO: One pound of sausage mince.
MIMSY: Check!
SERGIO: One small onion.
MIMSY: Check!
SERGIO: 2 sheets of puff pastry – thawed.
MIMSY: Check, check!
SERGIO: And one golden egg yolk!
MIMSY: Big check!
SERGIO: Perfect: We have all of our ingredients! And the best part, it only takes about fifteen minutes to prepare! If you pre-heat the oven before you start — set it to 450 degrees fahrenheit —it’ll be nice and hot by the time your sausage rolls are ready to bake. And as always, you can find the recipe card in the episode description below. Mmmm, I’m getting hungry, Mimsy. What about you?
MIMSY: I’m SUPER hungry.
SERGIO: I guess it’s time to get started then. Oh, and quick note here Explorer, make sure you’ve got a big bowl of cold water ready. You’ll see why in a moment. Okay, Mimsy. Let’s get cooking!
[MUSIC STING]
SERGIO/MIMSY: Here's your tall perch, right here. OK, now first step, soak the bread. Tear up the white bread, and soak it in cold water. We need four slices of those. Do you mind getting those for me, Mimsy? Can I get one to eat? Sure, but let’s count first. 1…2…3…4…Alright, Mimsy, now what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna cut off these bread ends right here. You wanna help me? You wanna push down there? Yep! Let's cut all these bread ends off. Good job. Our hand goes on the sharp side or the dull side? The dull side. Very, very good.
SERGIO: In Australia, most local bakeries make sausage rolls. You could walk into any small town and smell that warm, buttery pastry from down the street. The local bakery is always proud of the quality of their pies and sausage rolls. Even in the middle of nowhere, as soon as you spot a sign that says “Bakery”, you know you’re in good hands.
SERGIO/MIMSY: Guess what we get to do now? Wet to play a little bit of basketball for a second. Awww. You don't like basketball, huh? That's OK. OK, watch. I'm gonna pour some water in this very big bowl right here. All right, now what we're gonna do is we're gonna throw these. Can I throw them? Yeah. Throw them. One in…two in…okay, one more to throw in there. Toss it in there. Very good. Ooh, they’re getting all soft and squishy. Want to feel that? Yeah. Once they’re good and soaked, we’re going to squeeze out the water and put them in this bowl. Are you ready? Alright take one in your hand and qive me your strongest fist…squeeze, squeeze, squeeze so we can get all that water out. It’s almost like a wet dough isn’t it?
SERGIO: You know Explorer, in Australia, sausage rolls are the perfect game day snack! At an Aussie Rules match, you’ll see fans munching on pies and sausage rolls instead of hotdogs and burgers. Let’s make ours game-day ready!
SERGIO/MIMSY: Alright, next thing we're gonna do, I'll go ahead and touch this because this is raw meat. I'll go ahead and throw this sausage mince in here. There we go. Now we're gonna go chop some onion. Does onion make you cry or laugh? Cry. Oh, OK.
SERGIO: Okay, Explorer, make sure a grown up is on hand to help with this next part! Now the onion that we want for this recipe, is grated onion. That means that we want to make sure the pieces of onion are super small after we finish cutting them. You can use a grater or a knife for this step. Whatever you choose though, just take your time, stay safe, and keep your focus.
SERGIO/MIMSY: Alright, you ready for this? So I'm gonna cut it. It's gonna make us cry a little bit. What's the best thing to do when you cry? It actually makes me smile. It does make you smile? Yeah! Well, that's great. I think onions have the opposite effect on mockingbirds. Do you know that when you cut onions, it actually releases and makes an acid airborne, which is why it hurts our eyes so much. So the best thing to do is walk away for a second. [Mimsy Crying] Oh no, Mimsy I'm sorry. It's OK. It's OK.
SERGIO: You know Explorer, it can be tough work cutting up onions. But if you find yourself tearing up while trying to cook, there are a few things you can try. First, step back or wave your wings to move the air a bit. It helps blow that onion gas away. You can also chill the onion in the fridge before cutting. It slows the gas down like a little science trick! Or try cutting near a small fan, or even by cool running water, so the air moves away from your eyes. And whatever you do, don’t rub your eyes. Blink or ask a grown-up for a damp paper towel instead.
SERGIO/MIMSY: [MIMSY CRYING] Do you want to take a second? Yeah. Okay. But why do onions make people cry? Why do onions make people cry? Would you prefer they make people laugh, like crazy laugh? Yes. That'd be funny, right?
SERGIO: If all else fails, you can always suit up with some onion goggles. They keep your eyes safe and make you look like a kitchen captain on a festive food flight. And as long as you’re wearing those awesome things, there’ll be no crying in cooking! Once our eyes are clear, we can move on to the next step…adding parsley to our sausage mixture.
SERGIO/MIMSY: Do you wanna shake it on there? Yeah. Yeah, you can do a little more in there. Very good. OK, now let's put a little salt and pepper now too. I'm just gonna mix them all together. Alright, so we're gonna evenly mix it, so we get onions in every piece of it.
SERGIO: Most Australians LOVE onions. But there are some that don’t. When Matilda was a joey, her Nanna would make two different types of sausage rolls. One with onion, and one without. To keep them straight, she’d poke little holes in the ones with onion—her secret little signal for who could handle the extra flavor! Alright, let’s move on to the next step…placing your thawed puff pastry on a cooking tray. Just make sure it’s big enough to fit all of your sausage rolls.
SERGIO/MIMSY: Spoon a line of filling down one long edge of the pastry. Okay, do you want to help me? Just get a little bit with your hand. So I'll work on this one and you work on that one, okay, a nice line all the way down.
SERGIO: Explorer, Matilda told me that sausage rolls are made a little differently depending on where in Australia you are. Some bakers use beef instead of pork, and others add special ingredients like bacon. But now that we’ve finished handling the raw sausage, it’s time to make sure our hands (or wings) are nice and clean. Mimsy, remind us how to wash properly before we keep cooking!
SERGIO/MIMSY: First, you wash with water. Water on! Okay, and then you put soap on your hands and then, you scrub them together for ten seconds. Then, you put them in the water. And then you stop the water! And then you pat-pat dry with a paper towel or a towel, depending on what you have.
SERGIO: Excellent work, Mimsy! Okay. It’s time for the next step: folding the pastry into a log shape, and then sealing the ends using water so none of the meat escapes.
SERGIO/MIMSY: You know, there is a tendency to want to make it look perfect your first time doing it, but that's okay, you know, it's gonna look exactly the way it's supposed to look. And I think it's gonna be delicious no matter how it looks.
SERGIO: You know Explorer, Matilda once told me that when her Nanna passed down this recipe to Matilda’s Aunt, it came with a little yellow post-it note that said “Practice Makes Perfect.” I think that’s true in cooking, and in almost everything we do in life! The trick is to just keep trying until you get better at it. Every step, even the messy ones, teaches you something new. Don’t be afraid of the journey, because that’s where all the fun (and flavor) happens. Speaking of fun…
SERGIO/MIMSY: Wait, what's the egg for? We're gonna make a little bit of a paste is what it is. Here, do you want to crack it for me? Yeah. [CRACK SFX] All right, good job. Okay, next thing I'm gonna do is mix it all together. This is the whisk so we get it nice and evenly blended.
SERGIO: Once your egg mixture is whisked together Explorer, it’s time for the final touch. Grab a cooking brush and lightly paint a little bit of that egg mix right over the top of your sausage logs…just a thin coat. That’s what gives them their golden, flaky shine when they bake. Now we’re in the home stretch of our culinary adventure: baking it in the oven.
SERGIO/MIMSY: Alright, so when we open the oven, what do we do? Stand back a little bit, right? Because it'll be nice and hot. Here we go…
SERGIO: Alright, Explorer. The next step is easy: but make sure your grownup helps, because the oven can get really hot. Pop your sausage rolls in and bake them for ten minutes at 450 degrees fahrenheit. Then, turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for 15-20 more. When they’re gold and flaky, have your grownup carefully take them out and let them cool for a few minutes. Once they’re safe to touch, cut the logs into quarter inch pieces so everyone gets a taste. Then, dip them in ketchup, or as the Aussies call it “Tomato Sauce”. What do you think, Mimsy? How do Nanna Kangaroo's sausage rolls taste?
SERGIO/MIMSY: Good! Does it taste like the sausage balls recipe we made or is it a little different? It’s a little different!
[END MUSIC CUE]
SERGIO: Well there you have it, Explorer. A delicious taste of Australia right from your own kitchen! Now, my friends here in Green Ridge said they have a VERY special surprise planned for next week’s episode. Do you know what it is, Mimsy?
MIMSY: Yep!
SERGIO: Are you going to tell me?
MIMSY: Nope!
SERGIO: Fair enough. Well, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s going to be incredible. I hope you’ll join us for the big reveal! Until then…Keep Exploring!