Adrian Colling - Filey - Plain Pork Sausage

In the late summer of 2020 I managed to escape for a few days to the scenic North Yorkshire coast. A jolly nice time was had by all, and of course I brought home some sausages.

The area has a wealth of proper butchers and we visited quite a few. There was always a warm welcome, and the customer service was invariably excellent. We heard stories of uncovered beautiful Victorian tiles, nationally famous pies, products named by TV viewers, and even a delivery sheep, so please do have a chat with staff when you pop into any of the outlets around the Yorkshire Coast – you may be amazed with something you hear and the butchers love retelling their tales (but I will not be held responsible for the occasional embellishment or complete myth!).

Where To Find Them:

Visit the small but perfectly-formed fishing village of Filey and when you're done with the beach, the chippy and the penny arcade head for Union Street. You can't miss this attractive, eye-catching butcher's shop with its blue and white awning and colour-coordinated bollard and butcher's bike. Smashing. If you're using SausNav type in YO14 9DZ. Be careful if you're parking close by, the traffic wardens appear to be very predatory.

Opening Hours:

During the COVID period daily opening hours are 0700 to 1500, but “when it's all over” this should revert to the following:

Monday – 0700 to 1700

Tuesday – 0700 to 1700

Wednesday – 0700 to 1600

Thursday – 0700 to 1700

Friday – 0700 to 1700

Saturday – 0700 to 1600

Sunday – Closed

Also bear in mind that Collings close for a winter break each year, from mid-January to the start of February. All right for some eh!

Stanwatch:

If you're new to Rate My Sausage a Stan is a member of staff who potters around in the background when you visit, usually with a handful of absolutely lethal looking knives. Scary. At Collings we saw a good selection of stans working hard to provide Filey with its quality meat products, nice.

Flavour:

Although labelled as Plain Pork, these were a mixture of pork and beef, which I forgot until I tasted them. At first bite I thought there was some kind of problem, the flavour was not what I was expecting, it was deeper and more salty Checking the notes from the shop there it was, pork and beef! The flavour is pleasant and ever so savoury as it stands but personally I do prefer just one meat to be included. A pork banger tends to be nice and sweet, beef darker and hotter. These sausages are good though, and in a league many, many levels above the likes of the bloody awful Richmonds rubbish.

Texture:

Short and stout is what you get, much like me. These sausages take on slightly different shapes and sizes in the pan, which we love. The skins are great, they are natural (meaning no splitting at the first touch of heat) and give that authentic “cutting into a proper banger” pleasure. The filling is crumbly with decent sized lumps of filling, as always we crave a coarser texture but most people don't. A slight down point is the weight loss during cooking which seems on the high side, but that's just a minor criticism of an otherwise cracking product.

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 74 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 52 grams

Meat Content = 75 %

The meat content of these particular sausages is an equal split between pork and beef, although the shop can vary these numbers according to individual customer requests.

Value For Money:

£3.20 for 6 sausages weighing 446 grams. This works out as £7.17 per kg and 53p per banger.

We rate this as very good value for money.

The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:

A decent aroma emanated from these sausages, certainly enough to make your mouth water more than a bag full of Opal Fruits.

And Finally, Esther:

Lovely, homely, filling bangers. Buy some!

Wetherills - Sleaford - Plain Pork Sausage

“Local Lincolnshire pork sausages med by a yeller belly...”

Have you ever heard the phrase “No Frills” when applied to goods or businesses? It’s fairly synonymous with the words basic, rough, cheap, and other not particularly nice phrases. However, in the case of Wetherills Butchers you will find a No Frills operation that provides high quality produce.

As far as I can see this business is housed in an old stable down an innocuous looking side passage off Southgate in the south Lincolnshire market town of Sleaford. Take a look at our photo and keep your eyes peeled for the sign on the wall – it’s on the same side of the street as the Wise Owl discount store.

The Weight-loss Club Controversy:

One reason that I was interested to try these sausages was to investigate the alleged link with a major weight-loss club....we’ll call them Dieting Planet. A few years ago Wetherills sold lots and lots of sausages to members of.....Dieting Planet....and there was some confusion over whether this was an official endorsement or not. It appears that it was not, although this was no fault of the butcher, who had never claimed such a link. As soon as word escaped that their low fat sausages were suitable for the....Dieting Planet....scheme it spread like wildfire. Sadly, rather than enjoying a little free publicity, Dieting Planet came on heavy handed and threatened all kinds of consequences. Very disingenuous. For the record, Wetherills butcher makes no claim whatsoever to any kind of association with....Dieting Planet....or any other organised weight-loss organisation.

However, if you are looking to lose a few pounds then Wetherills sausages can definitely help. I watched as nearly all the fat was trimmed from the pork before mincing. Also there is less rusk in the low fat versions. Still tasty, but less on the waisty. For the record, Paul believes that each low fat sausage counts roughly one “naughty point”.

Opening Hours:

I love quirky opening hours and these are crackers...

Monday – 0730 to 1400

Tuesday – 0730 to 1300

Wednesday – 0730 to 1300

Thursday – 0730 to 1400

Friday – 0730 to 1300

Saturday – 0730 to 0830 and then 0930 to 1300

Sunday - Closed

Stanwatch:

What you see is what you get here. Paul and Tanya are the full complement of staff, and you can see everything that they’re doing. Nothing hidden away “round the back” in this shop. Flipping cold in the winter I bet.

Flavour:

Low cost but far from low quality...the nice Lincolnshire bred pork is allowed to shine through in these uncomplicated sausages. The seasoning is subtle, just sufficient to highlight the sweet porkiness, and in summary these bangers “do exactly what it says on the tin”. The butcher doesn’t add any fancy stuff at all, it’s pork, just pork, and it’s all the better for that. 

Texture:

My notes say “Initially – juicy! A very decent chewy mouthful”. And there you have it really. The cut is quite fine but the filling becomes more crumbly as it cools after cooking. Priced very similarly to retail rubbish such as Richmonds, the gulf in quality is immense; these have the feel of a proper banger as opposed to the sludge-like plop inside a mass-produced monstrosity.

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 85 grams (EIGHTY FIVE!)

Average Weight Cooked = 67 grams

Meat Content = Wetherills declare the meat content as 65% but in a recent Food Standards test the actual figure turned out to be 72%.

Value For Money:

£2.57 for 6 sausages weighing 510 grams. This works out as £5.04 per kg and 43p per banger.

We rate this as blooming marvellous value for money. As previously mentioned the pricing is very similar to, say, Richmonds or Walls, but you would be mad to buy those when you could have these! And remember, each of these weighs in at 85 grams, the Richmonds only 56. What would you rather pay for?

The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:

Frying these sausages was a painful experience – but only because I had been slicing onions to make the onion gravy and my eyes were on fire! I can’t tell you if there was a delicious aroma wafting around, I was too busy crying my eyes out.

And Finally, Esther:

I said it before and it’s worth repeating - Low cost but far from low quality. Try some as soon as you can.

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!