The RMS Champion Sausage of 2012 is the Fruitpig Company's Mazzafegati!
We wrote...."Meat-wise they’re a hunter-gatherer’s dream, firm and
fabulous logs of prime piggosaurus.
Listed at 70% pork, but the outstanding provenance of the rare breed
meat sings out sweet and strong. In my
notes, under Flavour I wrote “where do I start?”. I decided on “incredible”. Rich.
Gamey? Sweet. I didn’t cheat by reading the label prior to
eating, and guessed the up-front sweetness may be honey, may be sweet onion,
but decided it was there for all to see, yellow knobbles of capsicum. I was wrong of course, the label tells of the
presence of apricot. When the sweet deep
porkiness subsides you’re treated to an altogether more grown-up flavour
following on and charming your tastebuds, liver maybe, something in the offal
area? Kidney! No....."
It was liver after all.
I was right on that one.
Mazzafegati is traditionally a pork liver sausage from Umbria. The flavours here are dynamic and decadent,
and they’re not let down by the texture.
It’s perfect. Slice one and
marvel for yourself. It falls apart with
even the merest of encouragement, it’s surely the blueprint for how all
sausages should be made. The skins are
the real deal too, and peel back provocatively then sliced.
Rate My Sausage Star Verdict (out of five):
Recipe: * * * * *
Sausages: * * * * *
* (yes, six)
These champion sausages inspired me to my favourite line of the entire year...."As Jeff Stelling might say, they’ll be dancing in the
streets of Mazzafegati tonight...."
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The silver medal sausage of 2012 is Gary Boyce's Pork Sausage, bravo!
Very good quality Blythburgh pork, the standard is clear to
taste. Butcher Gary told me and showed
me examples of the prime cuts that are used to fill these sausages. There’s no rubbish in here, and as Canadian
rockers Sum 41 would say, it’s “All Killer, No Filler”. The pork is juicy and delicious.
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness”. Fans of the mighty Adam Richman, and his
perfect TV show Man Vs Food, will know that “OMG, OMG” is shorthand for “Good
Lord, Janet, this food product is truly of the most magnificent quality.” Boyce’s bangers are piggy perfection,
seasoned subtly to perfection and providing a full, deep mouthful of sausagey
heaven. The flavour is....big (sorry,
sometimes I can’t describe what I’m tasting) and I thought I detected a hint of
tomato? Or something else a bit
veggie? Maybe not. There’s no over-salty afterburn, no spicy
nip, just a magnificent, delicious flavour that would make Adam Richman weep
with joy.
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Bronze this year is awarded to Worzal's Traditional Pork Sausage....
Fruity at first taste, there are so many flavours
colliding. There’s a fruity sweetness
that may be provided by red and green peppers (you can see scraps of the
peppers in some slices of the sausage), and a mildly spicy afterglow, courtesy
of the very visible mustard seeds (I’m writing this without looking at the
listed ingredients, let’s see how close I get).
Good quality juicy pork is the backdrop throughout, and the seasoning is
low-key but adequate. What else is going
on? I’m not expert enough to decipher
everything, you’d need to ask Mister Stephen Plume, the Sausage King, to deploy
his superior taste buds I’m afraid. In
summary.....”Cor!”
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And the fourth place banger, mentioned in despatches, is Grasmere Farm's Pork & Stilton,
Oh wow! So
super-flavoursome! The stilton is slightly
dominant here but the pork doesn’t roll over and surrender – why would it? Quality ingredients are obviously present,
and if you like cheese and you like sausages, well, you just have to sample
Grasmere’s Pork and Stilton’s for yourself.
A few weeks ago I grudgingly praised Tesco and their Pork and Red
Leicester sausages – the first time I’d tried the pork/cheese combo. Well, these beauties knock the socks off of
those, the cheesiness is voluptuous and velvety, and a perfect companion for
the pork.
And that's it from us for 2012, well done to Matt and the boys at the Fruitpig Company, and to all our winners. See you in 2013!
