The "lucky" sausage maker first in the firing line is Debbie & Andrew's from Yorkshire. RMS first tried their 97% Pork bangers a couple of months ago, and you can read it here: Harrogate_97%_Pork_Sausage
If you want to find out more about Debbie & Andrew's products you should visit their website, which you can find here: Debbie&Andrews
So to the reviews:
Luke B reviews Sicilians:
The Theory
D & A’s Sicilians have obviously been created to capture that Italian combination that we all love. The succulent snags envelop garlic with sweet sundried tomatoes and delicate mozzarella, lightly seasoned with Italian herbs. They’re an Italian lover’s treat in a casing.
I am going to use a recipe which is perhaps an Italian twist on the British Bangers and Mash, Rotherham meets Rome!
The Recipe
Italian Sausage with Cider Casserole with Mustard Mash and Leeks
Ingredients
1 Pack D & A’s Sicilian Sausages
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Carrot
1 Stick of Celery
1 Medium Onion
500ml Dry Cider
1 Tin Chopped Tomato
Seasoning
Fry or grill the sausages until browned.
Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a large saucepan add the vegetables and fry until the onion is slightly browned and the carrots beginning to soften. Add the browned sausages, tomatoes and cider. Bring to a simmer. Transfer to a casserole dish and cook in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for around 35-40 minutes.
Serve on a bed of potato mashed with wholegrain mustard to taste with steamed leeks.
Served with a glass of Chianti, this is a great meal to serve to friends or family.
A British classic, with an Italian twist. The sausages have a great natural flavour enhanced by the Italian tomatoes and peppers in the sauce, with the cider for punch. Prego!
The Verdict
The Sicilian’s have a subtle but distinctly Italian vibe. You can taste all the ingredients which could have easily been overpowered by the garlic. Although care should still be given when serving to friends who are vampires!
The Sicilian’s have a subtle but distinctly Italian vibe. You can taste all the ingredients which could have easily been overpowered by the garlic. Although care should still be given when serving to friends who are vampires!
The casing is very thin which disintegrated quickly when fried although the sausages kept their general shape and appearance. The pork and stuffing is finely minced and so is easily devoured by the kids as well, who nearly took the pattern off their plates.
I would definitely purchase these Italiano’s in the future and would recommend to others.
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Samantha H reviews Perfect Pork:
First of all, I have to say I would consider myself a bit of a sausage snob; in fact I come from a family of sausage lovers and had previously thought that nothing could beat a good old banger from our local family butchers, Van Pelts of King's Lynn. However, when sampling Andrew and Debbie's pork sausages, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. For sausages that were not homemade, and were in fact, factory produced, they really stood their own against our old family favourites.
The packaging was the first thing that made a good impression on me. It looked good quality and told prospective purchasers in no uncertain terms that these sausages were made from quality ingredients and inspired confidence in the product; if I saw these in a supermarket, I would definitely be drawn to them.
The sausages themselves looked inviting, and I couldn't wait to try them. One slightly negative thing I noticed however, was their too perfect shape - to many this would be a good thing, but for me, the unsymmetrical shape of a homemade banger is infinitely preferable as it indicates quality. Maybe this is food for thought as these sausages are being marketed as the quality alternative to the homemade butchers sausage.
They cooked very well, producing the minimum amount of fat when cooked and thus avoiding the potential disaster of spitting and staining one's clothes. This was also an indication of the high quality of the meat; the less fat produced the better in my book! There was also a minimal amount of shrinkage, demonstrating the well packed and dense nature of the sausage, so what you saw in the packaging was what ended up on your plate when it came down to it! A definite plus!
I was not disappointed when it came to trying them. They had a lovely meaty texture, a delicious taste and a nice firm consistency. The flavour was not overpowering and would have made the perfect accompaniment to bacon and eggs, mash and peas or in a buttie. My only complaint was that they disappeared too quickly. All in all, a definite winner in the sausage stakes!
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I work full-time and now that the children are grown up family mealtimes are few and far between. So I was happy to have a go at reviewing these sausages and cooking with a purpose!
I decided to cook half of the sausages in a sauce (and ate them all in one go - so greedy but there was no-one else around except the dog and I felt she wouldn’t be able to contribute to this review). I fried a chopped onion in a pan and then added the sausages to brown (next time I might grill them as the skins sort of disappeared). I then added some red wine – about a glass – followed by some chestnut mushrooms and enough stock to cover. I added a small amount of mixed herbs and seasoning and left it to simmer for 20 minutes. I served it with a baked potato and garden peas. It was a lovely ‘comfort food’ meal and I really liked the texture of the sausages – very smooth. The flavour was quite delicate and I wondered if I’d made a mistake by putting them in a sauce, nice as it was. Anyway I polished off the lot (much to the dog’s disapproval).
Luckily I still had some sausages left so could review them all over again the next day – this time just grilled with fries – smashing, and all the subtler flavours were there.
It has taken me ages to produce this as, when I went to take a photo I found all the camera batteries were flat so had to use my phone and then couldn’t find the thingy to plug it into the computer – you can tell I don’t do this sort of thing very often.
Anyway, thank you for letting me sample these sausages and I shall definitely buy them and cook them for my daughter who, I know, will love them. I also like the wholesome, healthy farming family, concern for animal welfare image.
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Finally, pictures of the packaging and ingredient lists for the sausages:
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