C H Cook - West Walton - Plain Pork Sausage

C H Cook can be found in a small village called West Walton, which lies about three miles from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.  It’s definitely a one horse town, but they don’t make their sausages out of horses – I hope!  The welcome was warm but the shop itself was quite a disappointment.  It’s either an all round village store that’s taken the butcher under its wing, or a traditional butcher who has diversified into general groceries....and adopted the Londis brand name.  It feels a little sad.  Look at the picture of the shop and it looks drab, unloved, almost neglected.  It’s clear that Cook’s rely hugely on the trade of the villagers, and don’t feel the need to do very much to make the place look appealing.  Shame, really.

But this is Rate My Sausage, not Rate My Frontage (although if Keeley, 22, from Coventry would like us to rate her frontage, we’ll gladly comply) so I won’t say any more on the subject.  Let’s just press on to the business of the day, Cook’s sausages....

Meat Content:

70%.  Fair to middling.  Average.  OK.  There’s sufficient meat to have to chew properly, and you certainly couldn’t suck the filling of Cook’s sausages through a straw, as you can with the Bloody Awful Richmonds or Walls.  Reasonably meaty.

Flavour:

Initial thoughts – very sweet, hint of peppery afterglow when it’s gone down the hatch, pleasantly OK.  I suppose I was expecting too much from a banger named “Plain Pork”, and they’re acceptable as they are.  But there’s some spark missing, there’s no soul mixed in, and the result is like comparing the Jackson Five with JLS (ask your grand-daughter).  Not nasty, would do the job perfectly well at breakfast time.

Texture:

Could be worse.  That’s not a ringing endorsement I suppose, but Cook’s have produced a mostly smooth filling with hints of crumble and a nugget or two or gristle (we like gristly bits!).  Close but no cigar; the texture of their Plain Pork sausages is “fine” – nobody will be offended by them, but when you push the flat of the fork down on it you’re presented with what are pretty much squirts of porky play dough.  We’d prefer the pork to be less mucked about with.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 59g

Average weight cooked - 52g

Shrinkage - 12%

Fabulous shrink score for the Cooksters!  I wonder how?  Nice work.

Value For Money:

£1.16 for four sausages, weighing 234g - this works out as a price of £4.95 per kg, or 29p per snorker.  These are much better than major retailer crap, and are cheap too.  But simply because there’s not quite enough going on here, I’d rate Cook’s Plain Pork sausages as “good” value for money.

And Finally Esther:

The tone of this review, upon reading it back, is somewhat underwhelming.  These sausages are not world beaters, but they’ll make you a nice meal choice, especially at 29p each.  Give them a try!