Littler's - Blackburn Market - Pork Sausage

Littler’s is another great butchers that we found on the recent trip to Blackburn.  It's run by Frank Littler, and talking to the man, I heard a sad tale of council greed forcing this artisan meat merchant out of the market they’ve served for many generations.  Read all about it in the following article:

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8778736.Butcher_quits_Blackburn_Market_after_family_run_stall_for_150_years/

Utterly disgraceful, Blackburn Council.  Shame on your greedy selves.

I visited Frank’s new shop in the lovely village of Mellor, and it’s a little cracker. Possibly the most picturesque meaterie we’ve visited so far.  Frank and his staff are so warm and welcoming in their new home, and there’s a tangible sense of determination in the air, to overcome this huge upheaval and make a success of the future.  I really, REALLY hope they pull it off, these are good people.  To get a feeling for this place, imagine Last Of The Summer Wine scenery with Fred Dibnah’s accent.  That’s a lovely combination.

There’s a web address, but apart from the location of the shop it’s not very interactive: http://www.franklittler.co.uk/

Anyway, how did Frank’s bangers rate?  Read on....

Meat Content:

Oh wow, these sausages are fantastic!  Meat, oh yes, there’s more yummy meat here than on Real Madrid’s massage table.  It’s rare breed pork, reared on a farm at Balderstone, and you can really tell the difference.  First impression was WOW, second and third impressions confirmed this – what a find.  More meat here than in the raffle at Heckmondwike Working Men’s Club.

Flavour:

Juicy, sweet pork is the overwhelming whack to your taste buds.  And what an assault!  It’s like being mugged by Charlie’s Angels, who are wearing bikinis, and then they run away having put MORE money in your wallet.  Delicious.  More-ish.  Utterly gorgeous.  MAGNIFICENTLY DELECTABLE!  Yes, in capitals.  I hope you’re getting the impression that we like these sausages....

Texture:

The skins are snappy, which is a huge plus point.  No artificial nonsense going on here.  The filling is densely enticing, brooding like that buxom, hot sixth-form girl at her younger brother’s birthday party.  Except you get to taste these bangers.  Although we prefer a chunky cut, when the fine-cut version is this tasty, we’ll put up with it.  Actually, scrub “put up with”, we want to go to the pictures with them.  Nudge, nudge.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 51g

Average weight cooked - 42g

Shrinkage - 17%

A good figure for Littler’s.  Good, not great.

Value For Money:

£1.60 for six sausages, weighing 303g - this works out as a price of £5.28 per kg, or 27p per snorker.  And, dear readers, for sausages as utterly brilliant as these, I’d pay double.  At 27p these are completely outstanding value for money.

The Bisto Factor:

Oh, yes please.  The mouth-watering waft from the kitchen was absolute torture.  A pleasant kind of torture, not of the Max Mosley kind.

Summary:

From the depths of sausage hell with the bloody awful Plumtree Farms abominations two weeks ago Frank Littler’s bangers scale the heights of porky perfection.  Into pole position in this year’s rankings, well played The Fella From Mellor!

Meridian Meats - Louth - Tomato Sausage

Rate My Sausage LOVES Meridian Meats.  A small independent butcher.  Home to Young Butcher Of The Year.  Fantastic Lincolnshire sausage, as we reviewed here: 

http://bangersandsausages.blogspot.com/2010/10/meridian-meats-of-louth-best.html

It’s a shop with an established Good Rep at RMS.  When I was there I couldn’t resist their Tomato Sausage.  I remember tomato sausage from my nipper-hood - they didn’t seem to be very meaty but they DID taste delicious, and I wanted to find that taste sensation again.  Could Meridian take me back to late seventies Sundays, in front of the 40 over cricket, watching Joel Garner, Viv Richards and Ian Botham playing for Somerset and scaring everyone else?  Sundays were BLOODY boring back then.

Anyway, how did Meridian do with my childhood favourite?

Meat Content:

70% is the claim but these sausages seemed quite paste-y.  The pork content is stated as 70% but it’s hard to tell if that’s right....the overwhelming texture isn’t meat, it’s....softer.  Probably because of the tomato content I expect.  Give ‘em the benefit of the doubt.

Flavour:

A Ronseal of a sausage – it does exactly what it says on the tin.  A tomato sausage that tastes predominantly of....wait for it....tomato!  A real blast from the past for me.  There’s a lot of sharp salt though, which really detracted from the nostalgic tomato taste.  Is there more salt to preserve the tomato?  It takes over, and joins up with Mister Pepper to leave your mouth tingling and you reaching for a drink of water.  What a shame.

Texture:

These sausages look coarse – you know that’s what we like.  But the truth was that the texture was finer, blander, softer, and provided more disappointment.  It was almost...almost....appropriate to use the word “mushy”.  I am going to take a punt that this batch was an apprentice’s first go at the Tomato recipe.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 67g

Average weight cooked - 55g

Shrinkage - 18%

I was expecting a lot of disappearing sausage, which one often finds when there’s a lot of vegetable included in the recipe, so just 18% was a pleasant surprise.

Value For Money:

£1.77 for four sausages weighing 266g - this works out as a price of £6.65 per kg, or 44p per snorker.

This particular sausage?  Well.....there’s potential.  Looks tomato-ey.  Tastes a bit tomato-ey.  Buy something else.

Which European Country Makes The Best Beer To Drink When You’re Eating Sausages Challenge - Final Part

Number 7

Germany.  Will they be the best or the wurst?  The wurst!  Geddit?  Fair play is essential in taste tests like this, so we deducted the Jerries ten points for cheating at the 2010 World Cup.  Ooooh, unlucky!

 

Country - Germany

Beer – Veltins Pilsener

ABV – 4.8%

Flavour – Classy!  Clean, fresh, hint of autobahn with Trabant overtones.  7.5

Head – Thin and didn’t last long.  Like Thomas Brolin at Leeds United, except he wasn’t thin.  1.5

 

Looks – Quite boring.  1.5

Better Than Fosters? Much.  Y.  2

BSCF – Does a German bier go with sausages?  Are you mad?  Yes!  4

Do Flies Like It? 0

Punishment For Cheating At The World Cup:  -10

Score – 11.3

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Number 8

Greek alcohol.  Ouzo.  Retsina.  But beer?  Demis Roussos looked like he enjoyed a pint or two....

Country - Greece

Beer - Mythos

ABV – 4.7%

Flavour – Bitter, tangy, tart, rather good.  As Socrates said “Get it down ya son!”.  7

Head – Crappos!  1

Looks – Nice moulded bottle.  Good curves.  Attractive, for a Greek.  4

Better Than Fosters?  So much better.  2

BSCF – There’s a conflict here.  Imagine your mouth is Cyprus, the beer is Greek, and the sausage is a hairy Turk.  Not fab.  2

Do Flies Like It? 0

Score – 20.7

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The Result

Belgium - 25.3

Italy - 22.6

Greece - 20.7

Holland - 20.0

Ethiopia - 18.0

Luxembourg - 17.8

France - 14.2

Germany - 11.3 (oooh, unlucky)

So, the best beer to drink with sausages remains the same - something brown and brewed in England.  Failing that go for something strong and Belgian.

Which European Country Makes The Best Beer To Drink When You’re Eating Sausages Challenge - Part 3 of 4

Number 5

Next up in the “Which European Country Makes The Best Beer To Drink When You’re Eating Sausages Challenge” is Ethiopia.  Yes, I know....

Country - Ethiopia

Beer – St George Beer

ABV – 4.5%

Flavour – Hints of hop, but not enough going on.  Quaffable.  5.5

Head – Weak, soon gone.  1

Looks – Gory death scene of dragon.  Arabic writing.  Good.  3

Better Than Fosters? Y  2

BSCF – Just average.  Prob don’t go for a European imposter. (Not sure what we meant here). Do they have sausages in Ethiopia?  2

Do Flies Like It? 0

Score – 18.0

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Number 6

“Here Come The Belgians!” as Stuart Hall used to bellow on It’s A Knockout, all those years ago.  I wonder if Eddie Waring liked a pint and a sausage?

Country - Belgium

Beer – Affligem Dubbel

ABV – 6.8%

Flavour  - Smoky, heavy, intense, breathy, hardcore.  6.5

Head – Dark.  Intimidating.  Hung round like the hard kid outside the school disco.  4



Looks – Dark.  Intimidating.  Styx in a bottle.  4

Better Than Fosters? Oh damn Y.  2

BSCF – Doesn’t like sharing anything with anyone.  It says “Grrr”.  2

Do Flies Like It?  0

Score – 25.3



Which European Country Makes The Best Beer To Drink When You’re Eating Sausages Challenge - Part 2 of 4

Number 3

Can you name a beer from Italy, apart from Peroni?  Can you?  We worried whether the Italian lager would change sides halfway through the test and become a cider.

Country Italy

Beer – Birra Moretti

ABV – 4.6%

Flavour – 6.5

Head - 2

Looks – Cheesy.  Manufactured Italian?  BIIIIG glass on label, small bottle.  Embossed bottle, nice.  3.5

Better Than Fosters?  Y 2

BSCF – Good combination!  4

Do Flies Like It?  0

Score – 22.6

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Number 4

The French are not well-known for their beer.  Even their wines are being bettered by newcomers like Iceland, South Sudan, St Helena and Macclesfield.  Bon chance!

Country - France

Beer – Kasteel Cru

ABV – 5.2%

Flavour – Harsh, snappy, but only for an instant.  Then disappointed.  3

Head – Goood (sic), thick head.  3.5

Looks – Looks like a bottle of champers!  “Cru” is like “Krug”.  Stylish, like the French.  3.5

Better Than Fosters?  No.  -2

BSCF – Not good.  Beer froths on impact.  Potential vomit situation.  1

Do Flies Like It? 0

Score – 14.2

Which European Country Makes The Best Beer To Drink When You’re Eating Sausages Challenge - Part One Of Four

Number – 1

First up was the Dutch entry.  Surely a good benchmark for the entire field would be set?



 

Country - Holland

Beer – Lindeboom Pilsener

ABV - 5.0%

Flavour – Mild.  Quaffable.  Passive.  6

Head – Impressive when fecund, shrank quickly.  2

Looks – Green.  Boom is Dutch for beer!!  I want orange!  2.5

Better Than Fosters?  Yes!  2

BSCF – 2.5

Do Flies Like It? 0

Score – 20.0





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Number – 2

Ahhh, Luxembourg.  Tiny place.  Very wee indeed.  Been there, wasn’t impressed.  But how would their beer measure up?

Country – Luxembourg

Beer - Bofferding

ABV – 4.8%

Flavour – Tasted slightly flat.  Sharp, tangy flavour, otherwise unremarkable.  5

Head - 0

Looks – Simple.  Uncluttered.  A little boring?  3

Better Than Fosters?  Y  2

BSCF – Beer faded quickly.  3

Do Flies Like It?  0

Score – 17.8



Sausages And Beer Anyone?

A question I am often asked is “What beer goes well with sausages?”

The obvious answer is a good quality English real ale.  A marriage made in heaven, like Peter Andre and Jordan.

 

“But the supermarket’s sold out of Plume’s Old Knob!  And there’s no Cockin’s Greasy Choirboy Light Ale left either!”  Where do you go from there?  Thinking laterally, sausages are a staple of the Great English Barbie, and what beer is handed out at 99.2% of barbies?  Foster’s lager.

 

You’re now looking at plundering the European lager section for the perfect accompaniment for your bangers.  And there you experience another conundrum....”Which European country makes the best beer to drink when you’re eating sausages?”

It’s a serious question.  Hence the latest cutting edge investigation by the fearless Rate My Sausage team.

Welcome, gentlemen, to the “Which European Country Makes The Best Beer To Drink When You’re Eating Sausages Challenge”. 

We invented an extremely complex and subjective scoring system, which we think fitted the nature of the debate.  Beers were purchased from BEERS Of Europe, which is situated conveniently around the corner from Rate My Sausage HQ.  Sausages were provided by Lynda Clark, who harvested them from some of the best butchers in Lincolnshire.

The scores are awarded in the following categories:

Alcohol By Volume:  Does exactly what it says on the, errrm, bottle.  Points awarded equate to the number on the label.

Flavour: We’re not complete heathens, so we chose to award a maximum of 10 points depending on how delicious the lager was.

Head: We all like good head, in a beer, so there are up to 5 points available, depending how long the head lasts.

Looks:  Does the bottle look sexy?  Inviting?  Do you want to guzzle the contents?  Up to 5 points for grabs.

Is It Better Than Fosters?  It’s a simple question.  Is the beer better than the default English barbie drink?  2 points if it is, -2 if it isn’t.

Beer/Sausage Compliment Factor (BSCF): Does the drink mix well with the sausage?  No point buying it if it doesn’t!  Up to 5 points on offer.

Do Flies Like It?  Flies are pretty bloody disgusting creatures, we all agree.  But they have a good nose for lager, and you often have to hoik them out of your pint.  So, an extra point awarded for every fly that dives into the beer.

The draw for the order of tasting was made by landlord Ian of The Woolpack pub.  Let battle commence!

Note:  The comments are reproduced verbatim from notes made during the tasting.  In vino veritas was our aim.  Bold text indicates a comment made after the event.

Plumtree Farms - Pork Sausage

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A H Butler - March - Pork Sausage

So to the third and final butcher in the market town of March, Cambridgeshire.  Previously…one good – very good, and one bad – oh so very, very bad.  March’s entire sausage-reputation is in the hands of a shop called A H Butler, address 126 High Street.  Don’t let your town down, Mister Butler…. 

The shop is currently run by a third generation Mister Butler – Martin Butler to be precise.  A very genial, open chap who certainly knows his onions!  His father was Harold, who ran the shop before Martin, and the original Butler of the shop-sign fame is Arthur Henry Butler.  The pork sausage recipe that we’re trying in this review has remained unaltered since old Arthur Henry’s day.

Martin was most fascinated by the Rate My Sausage project.  Slightly disarmingly, he told me “We had another one of your sort here a couple of years ago!”  I enquired further of course, and discovered that the legendary Pork Pie News had purchased a pie there previously, no doubt to be written about in a Stephen Fry-esque manner, and judged to seven decimal places.  It’s what they do, and it’s very entertaining, in a nerdy, but knowledgeable way (heck, who am I to accuse others of being nerdy about food?  I measure sausage shrinkage To The Gram!).  The Pork Pie News visitor was much more professionally equipped than me, with a tripod for the camera….and a proper camera with big pointy lens-things.  Bloody elitists!

Anyway, back to the bangers.  Just how did Arthur Henry’s third generation recipe fare?

Meat Content:

75%.  It’s another “at least”.  They taste very porky.  Actually, VERY porky.  Very impressed with these sausages, and I’d buy them again if I ever pass through March.

Flavour:

The seasoning is understated, but this is a very tasty sausage.  It’s a shame for March that the two best butchers are not in the town centre, and the bloody awful Meat Market Sex Shop gets trade just from its location.  If Butler’s or Betts’ moved in next door they would be out of business within a month.  Butlers’ bangers have a light flavour that makes them a perfect part of your Sunday morning fry-up.

Texture:

Whereas the flavour is subtle, the texture is feisty, strong and challenging.  And therefore rather blooming good.  Coarse, crumbly, just how we likes ‘em.  Delightfully held together, such that when you slice through you can see all the ingredients inside, and they seem to be inviting you to tuck in.  Exceptional.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 65g

Average weight cooked - 53g

Shrinkage - 19%

Less than 20% seems to be rather good this year.

Value For Money:

£2.12 for four sausages, weighing 259g - this works out as a price of £8.19 per kg, or 53p per snorker.  Fifty three pence sounds expensive.  Indeed, only two sausages have cost more so far in 2011.  But you must balance cost against quality.  So, on balance, I’d class Butler’s bangers as “good” value for money.