Meat Market - Brandon - Regular Pork Sausage

It’s a grey day in the quiet Suffolk market town of Brandon.  Lorries crawl down the broad but uninspiring high street, scaring the pensioners and school run mums hurrying through the drizzly murkiness.  It’s only half past two in the afternoon, but it’s gloomy, close and starting to get dark.  I wonder why I’ve decided to come here to find the next potential prize-winning banger....

And then lo!  And, indeed, behold!  Warm, bright light shines out across the pavement.  A cheery man in an apron is visible behind a counter, with a large chopper in his hand.  I’ve found Brandon Meat Market, and it looks rather nice and – today – irresistibly inviting.  OK, the premises look like an oasis of loveliness in the gloom, but how did their sausages measure up?

Meat Content:

A decent chew!  There is definitely a good porkiness for the price, the meat content is claimed at 65% yet tastes rather higher.  From the uncooked picture it’s plain that there’s a good mixture of “colours” inside the skin, and when you eat them it’s plainer that most of these “colours” are pieces of meat.  Good stuff.

Flavour:

Warm, reassuring, lots of seasoning but not overbearing.  Not a Champions League banger but a definite contender for the Cup Winners Cup (yeah I know it doesn’t exist anymore).  If you want a sausage for your comfort food indulgence of bangers and mash then this particular sausage is ideal.  These sausages hug your taste buds.

Texture:

Firm, but yeilding, like a Russian at an arms limitation summit. No “tough bits” (which we like, but most people probably don’t).  Quite a smooth sausage but it breaks apart in bobbly fashion when you probe further – the smoothness was a worry, which disappeared when I investigated further. 

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked – 59g

Average weight cooked – 50g

Shrinkage – 16%

Not a lot of waste for the Meat Market’s junior contender, so a pat on the back to the butcher who makes them.

Value For Money:

£1.20 for four sausages, weighing 237g - this works out as a price of £5.07 per kg, or 30p per snorker.  I rate this as exceptional value for money, you MUST buy some next time you are anywhere near Brandon!  Tell them that Rate My Sausage sent you.