Thursday 28 July 2011

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:

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!

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