Gagen’s (pronounced gay-jun not gay-gun) of Wisbech is where I went, although they have another shop in the nearby village of Leverington (where they make all the sausages). Wisbech is a slight misnomer, the shop is in a part of town called Walsoken – find the little parade of shops and businesses and you’re in the right place.
The shop is sparklingly clean and the welcome is friendly – the legend “Home Killed Meats” on the shop sign conjures up images of a rather gory living room scene in the Gagen household, but don’t let that put you off! I was served by Paul, smartly presented and very helpful. On hearing of Rate My Sausage’s name he gave me an example of another potentially ambiguous website name – he has a friend who races VW Beetles and who was entering a race called “Big Boys’ Toys”....don’t put that in your search engine without an open mind! So I offer my thanks to Paul for the reception – let’s find out how good Gagen’s bangers are....
Meat Content:
I forgot to note the figure when I was on the premises so I called them the next day. The Wisbech Gagen’s said “We can’t help, we don’t make the sausages here – call our Leverington shop”. Which I did. The figure quoted was 50% although these have a much meatier presence than that would suggest....maybe it’s another low quote to keep in line with the Food Inspectors? Lovely and chewy, there is plainly a good amount of good quality pork in these sausages. Might be a good idea for the Wisbech shop to include the correct figure on their in-cabinet price labelling though, just to stay on the right side of the law?
Flavour:
“Oh yeah!....” was my first reaction. After a couple of weeks of decidedly below par fare it was a treat to get my gums around a real sausage, worthy of the title. The flavour isn’t overwhelming or strong, but it is lovely, and comforting, and nice. The seasoning is spot-on, neither too much or too little, and there’s a hint of something else that I just couldn’t put my finger on. Tasty little parcels of porky loveliness!
Texture:
Solid and willing to please! This is a firm sausage. When you drag one apart with the knife and fork it falls apart in just the right way, lots of small crumbles, a few thicker clumps, and a sense that these are made by a person and not on a production line in a dismal factory. So, firm and chunky - having said all that, these sausages are also very juicy indeed (see the pics), so how they manage to make them that way I have no idea. Good show Gagens!
Shrinkage:
Average weight uncooked - 58g
Average weight cooked - 46g
Shrinkage - 20%
20% is the best so far in 2012, but it’s not exceptional.
Value For Money:
£1.41 for four sausages, weighing 230g - this works out as a price of £6.15 per kg, or 35p per snorker. These are homely bangers that make a fine, comforting meal – very good value for money. Stick a couple of dozen in the freezer.
The Bisto Factor:
These naughty sausages gave off an absolutely divine bouquet during cooking! Wonderfully mouth-watering. What a tease, and what a way to make the cooking time excruciating! Yum Yum!
No comments:
Post a Comment