Van Pelt Traditional Pork Sausage

van Pelt. A truly historic name in King’s Lynn. Nowadays there is van Pelt's pork butcher, which is located on Norfolk Street near Lynn‘s centre. It’s a nice little trad butcher shop with the obligatory wacky opening hours. I was intrigued by the name….



The van Pelt name turns out to have been a name associated with King‘s Lynn for at least a century, but probably longer. In the photo below is “Timo van Pelt” - the picture is borrowed from “The Northenders - a disappeared community” by Patricia W Midgley. The Northenders were a tight and insular community of fisherman and their families, who lived in the area around Pilot Street, St Nicholas Street, and True’s Yard, and made up a huge part of the history of the town.

Looking into the history of the van Pelt name, and their transition from smacksmen to butchers, has been absolutely fascinating. Who would have thought that a simple blog for judging sausages would unearth such an intriguing tale. I am enjoying this sausage investigation immensely. And I also enjoyed van Pelt’s bangers a lot too.



Meat Content:
As often with the proper butchers, no meat figure was given. But the quality was high and the meatiness obvious, as these great sausages were fab to chew into. Firm but not tough , and the meat must be good quality too as there were no stray pieces of gristle. Listen carefully and you can nearly hear these sausages oinking.

Flavour:
I REALLY enjoyed these chaps, and can offer no better compliment than that they tasted “Very Sausagey”. An embodiment of what you would hope for in a banger, a rich, filling flavour with a nicely balanced tang of seasoning, just right with the pepper. Good work.


Texture:
Before cooking it was possible to see lots of large, different coloured speckles under the skin, hinting at the coarseness of the filling, and this was confirmed when the knife cut through. Although they are one of the shorter sausages, six slices stood up perfectly well. I ate these as part of a fry-up breakfast, and they worked really well as you’d expect, tasting firm and meat-filled. The next day however, when I used a couple of them straight out of the fridge for a crafty sausage butty, WOW! Firm with a capital FIR, and a great filling for a sandwich, slicing perfectly into shape.
Talking about the shape, it was pleasing to observe these sausages cooking into slightly different sizes and with varying amounts of curvature, just how a batch of real bangers ought to be.

Shrinkage:

Average weight uncooked - 59g
Average weight cooked - 49g

Shrinkage - 16%

Value For Money:

Six van Pelt’s bangers cost just £2.19 - this works out as a price of £6.27 per kg, or 37p per snorker.

So, these were right in the middle of the price range we’ve found so far, but nearly the best-rating shrinkers. Add to that the great taste and texture, it all means that van Pelt’s Traditional Pork Sausages receive an emphatic thumbs up. At a tiny 37p apiece you have to have these bangers on your Sunday breakfast plate or in your freezer. Pick some up today!