Keevil & Keevil - Smithfield Market - Pork, Honey & Mustard Sausage

If you’re new to Rate My Sausage, Keevil and Keevil is a butchery business based in Smithfield meat market in that there London (by butchery business I mean like Jonesey out of Dad’s Army, as opposed to the Kray twins).  Their  CUMBERLAND sausages caused an absolute sensation here when they were reviewed way back in June this year, as they leapt salmon-like to the top of our secret scoring charts.

Incidentally, a word about the way we score the bangers that we review.  As you “may” expect it’s an eccentric system, tailored exactly to my own, very personal likes and dislikes, and is therefore incredibly subjective.  I make no apology for that – these reviews reflect “my” opinions, so I think it’s fair that our points system should do the same.  If you saw it you’d almost certainly be able to pick holes in it or criticise, hence the secrecy.  And it adds a rather tantalising layer of mystique to the whole Rate My Sausage process.  Overall, the good products hover around the top of the league, while the dross sinks to the bottom, so it pretty much does its job.  Anyway....

Keevil and Keevil is an uber-friendly firm who go out of their way to make customers feel welcome and special, and that’s lovely.  Did they just get lucky with the Cumberlands?  How did the Pork, Honey and Mustard sausages match up?  Dunk a chipolata in your cuppa and read on....

Meat Content:

The label says 70% pork, which feels about right.  These are firmly meaty bangers which squelch nicely in your mouth.  The change between the uncooked stage and being to ready to eat is quite remarkable, they bulk up and fill out like the local meathead bodybuilder has overdosed on steroids.  Or like Cartman when he takes Weight Gain 4000 – “Beefcaaaake!”  Except that these are made of pork.  Obviously.  Squeaky pork is invariably good pork, and these squeak like a navvie’s wheelbarrow.

Flavour:

The first impression was “It’s all honey, where’s the hot stuff?”  Then, tasting the second sausage, ah, there it is!  This time it was mainly mustard with just a sniff of sweetness.  I like this a lot, the sausages seem to be hand-made with varying amounts of the component parts ending up in each link, instead of being industrially mashed together in some giant Kenwood mixer somewhere in Thailand.  The third sausage was a perfect mixture of the mustard and the honey, with the final mouthful largely mustardy, giving my tastebuds a final farewell scalding on the way down the hatch.  The flavour varies between sausages, but I’m counting that as a really good feature, and proof of man, not robot, as the maker.

Texture:

OK, initially it looks a bit fine for RMS’ personal ideals.  Super snappy skins though balance that out, and hint at a super sausage.  It IS finely chopped, so points are lost there, but the end result is firm and satisfyingly muscular.  One point to note – look at the clearly defined stripes in the frying pan picture – a dead giveaway that there’s added sugars to give a false browning.  Sure enough you’ll find dextrose listed in the ingredients.  Leave it out guys, your bangers are superb without resorting to cheating like this!  Yellow card.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 77g

Average weight cooked - 67g

Shrinkage - 13%

The third lowest figure of the year, MORE than acceptable.  These sausages start off big before you cook them, and are still big when it’s time to eat.  That has to be a good thing.

Value For Money:

These were supplied as a review product so I didn’t actually have to pay for them, meaning a cost to me of zero – that’s my favourite price!  The K and K website lists the price as £18.50 for 30 sausages, weighing 2500g - this works out as a price of £7.40 per kg, or 62p per snorker.  The quality and flavour is good, and I felt absolutely full when I ate some - but balance that with the fine filling and added dextrose.  I’ll say that Keevil and Keevil’s pork, honey and mustard sausages are pretty good value for money.

The Bisto Factor:

Just like it says on the packet, you can sniff sweet honey and tangy mustard at the same time, wafting out of the kitchen.  I couldn’t wait to get started on these sausages.

Opening Hours:

As I said last time we reviewed them, you can place an order with Keevil and Keevil anytime you want to.  Just click and pick here:

KEEVILandKEEVIL