Wilkinson's – Doncaster Market – Thick Traditional Sausage

 It’s part two of our Doncaster Market series and this time we’re at the stall of Wilkinson's Butchers. You can’t miss this one, it’s straight in front of you when you enter the indoor market.

The first thing you may notice is the exceptionally warm and friendly welcome from these guys, absolutely lovely. While I was deciding which bangers to buy a family approached the stall. The couple’s child clearly had a learning disability and the staff made a proper fuss of them all, involving all three family members in their sausage-buying choices. I work in mental health so I know that this kind of treatment is sadly not as common as it should be, so well done Wilkinson’s! Customer service done the right way.

One exceptional thing about these meat-mongers is their posting of POV videos on their Facebook page. These cover lots of aspects of butchers and butchering, so check them out for some entertainment and information. Another thing to note is that on a Friday and Saturday Wilkinson’s deploy their full range of 22 different varieties – so if you’re going to pay a special visit it may be that a Friday or Saturday is your best option…

Where To Find Them:

In the market hall in beautiful downtown Doncaster of course! Stall 25 to be precise. If you’re using SausNav it’s DN1 1LP.

Opening Hours:

Monday - Closed

Tuesday – 0800 to 1530

Wednesday - Closed

Thursday - Closed

Friday – 0700 to 1530

Saturday - 0700 to 1530

Sunday - Closed

Correct as at 8 May 25.

Stanwatch:

Three people were beavering away when I visited, who I later discovered were top man Daniel Wilkinson, son Brennan, and Aunty Karen.

Flavour:

Oh yes. A lovely nostalgic flavour here. Remember the tea-times of your youth, only allowed two sausages because there wasn’t much money around, thin gravy with little fat bobbles, why was there always cabbage? The flavour of Wilkinson’s Traditionals will instantly take you back to that Tuesday night, just after John Craven’s Newsround. And that can’t be a bad thing? Nowt fancy going on here, just a tasty, meaty, satisfying flavour that I really like.

Texture:

There’s nowt wrong with what’s inside these sausage skins. The RMS preference is a chunky chopped porkiness but if we can't have that then please, please make the filling firm, full, and fab, and not like wallpaper paste (Richmonds style). These bangers resist the fork just nicely. We approve.

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 65 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 53 grams

Shrinkage = 18 %

Meat Content = 80 %

Value For Money:

£5.04 for 6 sausages weighing 388 grams. This works out as £12.99 per kg and 84p per banger.

We rate this as very good value for money.

And Finally, Esther:

Second Donny market sausage, and another high quality producer offering high quality bangers. These sausages are good, with a capital G – so much so that I’m planning a return visit soon, to investigate some of those 22 varieties…wonder if they do a tomato sausage or a pork and leek?

Angus – Doncaster Market – Thick Pork Sausage

In the words of Daniel O’Donnell “It’s been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.” Or was that Engelbert Humperdinck? Either way it’s true, but Rate My Sausage is back with a first review in…yonks.

On a cold but sunny Tuesday we visited Doncaster to pop into the market in search of sausages – according to the internet there are quite a few butchers there. Internet was right, there are! It seems the meat-mongers are doing somewhat better than many other traders as there are so many empty stalls in the market hall, lending it a rather melancholy atmosphere with echoes of glory days long gone. Sadly that is a very familiar tale in markets across the country, people find it easier and cheaper to pick up lower-quality, cheaper meat from supermarkets. Come on readers, pop down to a market close to you soon, they need your five pound notes.

The first Donny market bangers we’re rating are Angus Butcher’s Thick Pork offerings.

Where To Find Them:

In the food hall at Doncaster Market, obvs. To be more specific we’ll let them tell you themselves. “We are located in the main food hall which is adjacent to the Corn Exchange. You can easily find us by looking for our Angus Butchers sign and cow head logo which are both illuminated. You will find us in the corner of the market nearest to the Markets Car Park which is handy when carrying heavy groceries.” Heavy groceries – this means you need to buy half a pig, half a sheep, and an assortment of various lumps of cow before you leave. If you’re using SausNav the car park is at DN1 1LP.

There's a website: Angus Butchers Doncaster

Opening Hours:

Monday – Closed (Preparing for market)

Tuesday – 0700 to 1600

Wednesday – Closed (Preparing for market)

Thursday – 0700 to 1500

Friday – 0700 to 1600

Saturday – 0700 to 1600

Sunday – Closed

Note: Times correct as at 20 Apr 25.

Stanwatch:

There were three chaps bustling about behind the counter which was nice to see. All were kept busy with a steady flow of customers, which was even nicer to see.

If you’re new to our reviews you may be wondering what Stanwatch means? Well, when RMS was born in 2010 the first visit was to Bowers butchers in King’s Lynn (top quality sausages btw), where I spoke to main man Dickie and his colleague Stan. Ever since then we’ve grown to appreciate all the Stans who beaver away in the background chopping, slicing, wrapping, dicing, and swearing, they’re all ace. Every time I visited Bowers, if Stan served me I’d always let out a cheery “Thanks Stan” on my way out, and I could never understand why he always seemed to throw me a slightly annoyed glance as I did so. Many, many years later I was told that Stan’s name is actually Terry. Sorry Stan.

Flavour:

Sweet, juicy, a light flavour that makes these snorkers perfect for a place on your fried breakfast. There’s no faffing about here, the pork is the star of the show flavour-wise, and it tastes delicious. I’m a bit unsure about the “thick pork” name, as the sausages seem to be sized between “standard” and chipolata to me. But then, what do I know?

Texture:

These are dense sausages. If you’re wondering how dense, think Gemma Collins on Mastermind dense. Chunky, solid logs of porky goodness. The filling is not as rough-cut as we prefer, but equally is a million times more rustic and resistant to your knife than the cheap supermarket abominations. Be careful with these skins though, they went from nowhere near done to nearly over-caramelised in the blink of an eye, so keep your eye on them while frying.

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 63 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 45 grams

Shrinkage = 28% This is not excessive – all sausages shrink when you cook them properly. This stat has been reintroduced just for added interest – if you want zero shrinkage then you’re living in cloud cuckoo land frankly.

Meat Content = “about” 80% I was reliably informed. Kudos to me for actually remembering to ask the question, I usually forget.

Value For Money:

£3.00 for 6 sausages weighing 375 grams. This works out as £8.00 per kg and 50p per banger.

We rate this as really good value for money.

The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:

Sweet and appetising but not overpowering. You won’t need to deploy the Febreze after cooking.

And Finally, Esther:

Decent bangers. And their website states “We purchase the whole animal before carefully preparing our cuts ready for the shop counter. Purchasing the whole animal and butchering the meat ourselves rather than buying it already cut makes all of our meat is fully traceable. If you would like details of the farm your meat came from please just ask us.” Just how it should be, great work Angus chaps.

Fifty pence for a proper butcher’s banger, what’s not to like?

Coming soon...

 We're nearly back...

Coming soon:

Sausage reviews aplenty...

Doncaster Market series

Fosse Meadows Farm pannage pork sausages

A trio from Richard's Quality Meats in beautiful downtown Newark

Back where we belong!

Taylors - Bottesford – Traditional Sausage

Rate My Sausage was created in Norfolk, moved westwards to Lincolnshire, and now finds itself in Nottinghamshire. We've rated a few sausages from Newark butchers but there's a whole new, big county for us to explore. The starting point for this new chapter was the small village of Bottesford.

But hold on. Is Bottesford really in Notts? Well, after some time looking into this I have no idea. It might be. Or it could be Leicestershire. Politically it's Rutland. And local government is South Kesteven. Beyond my brain power to work it out so if you have the answer please let me know.

We visited Taylor's butchers to start exploring the bangers of this new area.

Where To Find Them:

You'll find Taylor's the butcher at 1 Grantham Road, also known as The Cross. It's really rather a pretty location and there is room to park on the side of the road nearby. There is no bold brassy signage here just a couple of blackboards listing special offers, but you can't miss it. Check the ceiling in this shop, old butchery items make it look like Frank Bough's basement. If you're using SausNav type in NG13 0DF.

Opening Hours:

Monday – Closed

Tuesday – 0700 to 1700

Wednesday – 0700 to 1700

Thursday – 0800 to 1700

Friday – 0700 to 1700

Saturday – 0700 to 1700

Sunday - Closed

Flavour:

Notes say “Wow, it's a powerful Lincolnshire”. Which for RMS is absolutely marvellous, bring on the bite. These bangers are almost, but not quite, over-powering. Taylor's have started to supply a local cafe, and the cafe bods have asked if they can be made less grabby and more herby. I don't get that myself, but I suppose they have to offer to a wide variety of customers, not just sausage maniacs like us. I love the flavour here, well done chaps.

Texture:

Real hog casings used, which bodes well. Inside coarse and crumbly, just how we like them. They squish OK too, get through the fork but boldly maintain structure. The skins held up perfectly in the pan and manfully held little pools of molten fat inside – a good thing as it makes them not too dry and not too juicy. Is there even such a thing as too juicy? Once cooked some skins proved to be just a little bit too chewy but that could have been down to my cooking I guess.

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 41 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 30 grams

Meat Content = forgot to find out, sorry...

Value For Money:

£1.70 for 6 sausages weighing 245 grams. This works out as £6.94 per kg and 28p per banger.

We rate this as very good value for money.

And Finally, Esther:

This is usually a short, snappy (ha!) summary, but I can't do that this time. The flavours and the lovely coarse texture are wonderful. But the physical dimensions left me feeling a little short-changed. I want Taylor's to reproduce these bangers as they are but double the size. Triple! Lads, does your sausage machine need a bigger nozzle? I'll crowdfund you. Just please, please make these scoffable sausages more sizeable! When you've done that I am coming back for another review.

Sleaford Sausage Shop - Pork, Leek & Stilton Sausage

 In these times of mass closures of independent butchers shops it's great to be able to report the arrival of a new kid on the block. Not the complete butchery shop, but a lovely, little shop dedicated to selling sausages! Heaven.

Ian is the creative genius here and first opened the doors of Sleaford Sausage Shop on Saturday 13 November last year. The sausages completely sold out two hours before the intended closing time. The same thing happened the following Saturday. And amazingly has re-occurred every weekend since then. What better recommendation do you need than a product selling out week after week?

Where To Find Them:

Sleaford Sausage Shop is located in the quaint Victorian-era Bristol Arcade in the market town of Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The arcade has two entrances, one opposite the market place, the other where Clarks shoe shop is.

Opening Hours:

Monday – Closed

Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – Closed

Thursday – Closed

Friday – Closed

Saturday – 0800 to 1300

Sunday – Closed

Yes the shop is only open on the early part of Satrudays. Plan a trip and bag some bangers. Ideally visit on the first Saturday of the month when the farmers market is held just across the road in the shadow of St Denys church.

Stanwatch:

No Stans on show, this is a one man band. Also the shop is...compact...so you probably couldn't fit any Stans behind the counter anyway.

Flavour:

The good quality cut pork is sweet and innocent, the leek adds more background sweetness. We've tried more “leeky” versions which is more to my taste, but producers these days are trying to appeal more to the masses than weird individual sausage lovers like me. The Stilton aroma is great, the flavour a little harder to capture, but the rich, laid-back creaminess sneaks up on you, and leaves a delightful cheesy after-taste. The flavour is probably better suited to maybe a cassoulet than for your breakfast, as the elements come through clearly and “do exactly what it says on the tin”. And if you remember that advert, you're older than you claim...

Texture:

Coarse chopped, and we love coarse chopped! The natural hog skins are snappy to cut into, just how it should be. Inside the filling it is easy to spot decent sized bits and pieces of the ingredients. These are succulent sausages, when you push a fork onto one it simply oozes sausage-y goodness.

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 82 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 71 grams

Meat Content = minimum 75% pork shoulder or loin

Value For Money:

£4.21 for 6 sausages weighing 495 grams. This works out as £8.50 per kg and 70p per banger.

We rate this as very good value for money.

The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:

A subtle but interesting aroma before cooking which developed into “Are they cooked yet?” during frying.

And Finally, Esther:

Several butchers have told me now that tastes have changed in recent times and there is more demand for a blander, less challenging flavour profile, think mass produced pigswill like Richmonds. These bangers from Sleaford Sausage Shop are the polar opposite, full of grown-up flavour and texture. Recommended!