British sausages come in many varieties and it took me a long time to figure out that chipolatas are the closest thing to American sausage links, so much so that I couldn’t tell the difference. Chipolatas are thought to originate in France. Or Spain. They really just don’t know.

What About English Breakfast Sausage?

Chipolatas are not traditionally the British sausage included in a full English Breakfast. The most popular sausages in Britain are:

1. Cumberland
   
2. Lincolnshire
3. Yorkshire

They’re fatter and each have slightly different flavours, which are not really similar to American sausage, neither breakfast nor Italian. They appear like this:

If you have a sausage bap (or butty), you’re most likely to get one of these sausages, split down the middle and laid flat on the roll. They are really good BTW!

And ground sausage?

Again, British sausage-meat has a different flavour to American ground sausage. You may be able to acquire some American sausage seasoning from a US butcher. I had two packs of seasoning that lasted me for a decade as used sparingly. These days you may be able to buy it from Amazon or make it yourself. In a pinch you could take the chipolata meat out of the link casings.

And just so you know, if you get a hot dog from a vendor, you’re most likely to get a Cumberland sausage on a hot dog bun. They’re good, as long as you don’t put English Mustard on them. 

“The greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”

– Bill Bryson