The Fruitpig Company, where to begin. I really ought to put my cards on the table before going any further, and state that the sausages made by Ace Butcher Matt Cockin are the best quality, and have been my personal favourites, since Rate My Sausage began. They won our Sausage Of The Year awards in 2010 and 2012 and have been the only bangers that moved us to poetry. With this in mind, if you're hoping for one of our more acerbic trashing-type reviews you "probably" won't get what you want. But then again....
Where To Find Them:
As with all this series we found The Fruitpig Company at Creake Abbey Farmers Market. In the tin shed at the far end to be precise. Their stall is jam-packed with porky goodies. As well as at Creake Abbey you should be able to find them at many excellent food outlets around our area, click here for an up to date list.
Flavour:
There's a great mix of flavours here, which varies by the forkful. Just ogle the photos, large chunks of quality ingredients mean that each mouthful is different and very enjoyable. To compliment the great flavours the juiciness of the pork wraps the whole package up perfectly, and adds a sparkly little bow on top. I was hoping that the ginger would be more prominent but it seems to have gone for an early summer holiday, which is a surprise and a bit of a shame. Overall a lovely spicy and sweet mix.
Texture:
Soooooo meaty. Quality rare breed pork makes the filling chunky, bordering on knobbly. Or gnarly. You certainly can't squidge these sausages through your fork - try it and the sausage laughs mockingly in your face, and returns almost to its original form. Our one word summary for the texture - Manly!
Vital Statistics:
Average Weight Uncooked = 72 grams
Average Weight Cooked = 48 grams
Meat Content = 75 %
Value For Money:
£4.00 for 6 sausages weighing 433 grams. This works out as £9.24 per kg and 66p per banger.
We rate this as fabulous value for money.
Before we came back to re-start RMS I asked
around a lot of people what they thought we should do with the pricing and cost side of things. The overwhelming feeling was to comment on the value for money, whether the product was worth the price, as opposed to simply reporting on the actual cost in pounds, shillings and pence.
Junior Sidekick's Three Word Verdict:
As so often when Fruitpig sausages are on the table, JS was coincidentally not around. Purely down to bad luck, obv. Nothing to do with the fact that I WILL NOT share.
The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:
The notes say "open pack and WOW! So deelish smelling. When cooking smell so F good!" So you can take that as a positive olfactory endorsement.
And Finally, Esther:
I love these sausages. They're of a quality you will struggle to find anywhere else. But they're not my favourite Fruitpig sausage. And writing that seems a bit odd. I was going to go with the "how do you choose which of your children is your favourite" line, but Fruitpig bangers sont les enfants terrible du Coquin. So I'll re-visit a theme from a previous review, and christen Matt Cockin as the Van Dyke to Lisa Scothern's Andrews. Truly the sausagey Dick to the practically perfect Julie.
1 comment:
Entertaining as your trashing reviews are, I prefer to read about sausages that I'd like to eat. And it pains me to think of you forcing down the really disgusting ones that no one should be eating.
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