Perfick Pork - Great Ryburgh - Perfick Classic Pork Sausage

What a lovely warm welcome you get when you visit Perfick Pork! Just over the bridge on the right hand side, on the way into the long Norfolk village of Great Ryburgh you’ll find Bridge Stables. Remember, it’s immediately after the bridge!

David Smith is in charge, and was behind the counter when I visited. Wow, how enthusiastic can a man be about his work?! This enthusiasm seems to have been distilled into the business – the premises are very smart and exceptionally clean-looking. The displays of meat tempt you to say “I’ll have one of everything” (what a feast THAT would be). Even the staff uniform is smart, understated, and implies professionalism and high standards. Would their product live up to the surroundings?

We’ll see – after a little more information about Perfick. In a relatively short time this company has won impressive orders at some of Norfolk’s most prestigious destinations, including The HOSTE Arms at Burnham Market (Nelson’s birthplace), BLAKENEY Hotel at, well, Blakeney and BYFORDS at Holt. Impressive stuff, as this calibre of establishment doesn’t give house-space to mediocre food. And the public have been giving Perfick a vote of confidence too, buying over ONE TONNE of sausages every week! If you’re not close enough to visit in person, order from their website - PERFICK_PORK You will also be able to find the Perfick Pork stand at all the major agricultural and craft shows in the east of England.

And so to the sausages:

Meat Content:

These bangers taste Very Piggy. Perfick tell us that there’s 85% pork in every sausage – Duroc pork reared on their very own farm at nearby Binham. Sweet-flavoured, mild, proudly-British (despite the name) pork, there’s nothing to criticise in the choice of meat, it’s a knockout taste.

Flavour:

The strong peppery aroma from frying doesn’t dominate the taste. Far from it. These sausages offer a very, VERY well balanced breakfast banger. Some pepper is here though, as part of a great seasoning, and a full herby flavour fills the mouth and cuddles your taste buds. I never read any online description of bangers before I try them, in case my own observations are skewed by them – after enjoying the abundant herby-ness present here I find that there are eight different herbs within, rosemary, thyme, sage and ginger included. Altogether delectable.

Texture:

These felt solid when they were uncooked. They assumed extra solidity during frying. And they taste deliciously juicy and slightly fruity? The casings crackle dramatically when cut and when chewed, and do a great job of keeping the just right amount of moist juiciness inside. Middle of the range coarseness in the filling helps these sausages to an above average texture. Bloody marvellous bangers.

Shrinkage:

Average weight uncooked - 64g

Average weight cooked - 50g

Shrinkage - 22%

That’s the lowest figure of 2011 so far. However, that’s not a particularly praiseworthy statistic, as shrinkage has been, on average, much higher than through 2010. Not too bad though, I guess, “the best this year ” still sounds pretty good.

Value For Money:

£2.36 for six sausages, weighing 381g - this works out as a price of £6.20 per kg, or 39p per snorker. Although I have to admit that RMS paid....a little.....less than the going rate. But look. Seriously. Thirty nine New English pennies for each of these lovely sausages? That, dear reader, is an absolute bargain by any standards.

The Bisto Factor:

Ahhhh, Pepper! You can smell a delicious peppery aroma from these chaps while they’re frying. I was surprised by this, but “Wow”, they smell lovely while they’re in the pan, and you can hardly wait to see how they taste.

Through A Child’s Eyes:

My seven-year-old sidekick wasn’t around when I tried these, but we went looking for the Perfick Pork stand at the Sandringham Spring Craft Fair the week after, and he LOVED them. So much so that, after trying two slices of sausage on the first visit to the stand, he pestered me to go back so he could have another. Indulgently, Julie and David played along and cheerfully offered their wares. Now that, from 7-y-o Sidekick, is pretty much a royal endorsement. I expect Perfick Pork will place an appropriate plaque over their door immediately.

Jimmy's Sausages - Classic Pork Sausage

Jimmy Doherty is none other than the Jimmy of the Jimmy’s Farm telly show. You know it surely, remember the guinea pig model village (dolls’ houses with…guinea pigs running around inside them)? No? Shame, it was hilarious to see the reaction of the customers when they turned up. Jimmy runs a rare breed pig farming business in Suffolk, and I’m going to try and wangle an invitation for a look round.


There’s a website for you to check out: http://www.jimmysrange.com/index.html





So how do these sausages rate? I was rather hopeful before the testing began….would my expectations be fulfilled? Read on:



Meat Content:Firmly meaty. 90% pork it says on the box, and I won’t antagonize any big company lawyers by disagreeing. These are quite a small sausage, without any great chunkiness or pigosity. Meaty enough, for the size, but meaty enough for the price? I am not entirely convinced.

Flavour:
As you can see from the sliced pictures, and from the ingredients list, there’s pepper here – but not enough. Although there is some pepper visible in the sausage (the black specks) the flavour is very hard to detect, if not impossible, which may suggest that this product is aimed at the young end of the market? Middle class eco-mums shopping in Waitrose, perhaps? (After parking their enormous un-eco Monster Jeeps, badly, of course).

Texture:These are thinnish sausages, but quite long, and look quite appetizing in the raw. Very juicy, even squeaky, with a pleasant even texture throughout. Why the squeak though? Try them for yourself and tell me they don’t squeak! There are some pieces of the spices here, but again, not enough. Come on Jimmy’s, stop being stingy with the stuff and up-end the pot into the mixing bowl. He who dares, wins, Jimmy.

Shrinkage:
Average weight uncooked - 60g
Average weight cooked - 47g

Shrinkage - 21%

Higher than average, but “ball-park” for pre-packed.

Value For Money:£2.99, for six sausages, weighing 358g - this works out as a price of £8.35 per kg, or 50p per snorker. Not a cheap banger, and I was hoping for more from Jimmy’s Pigs. But give them a whirl if you have a quid or two to spare. If you’re on a budget, go to a proper butcher and buy as many bangers as two pounds will get you.