Retail Sausage Of The Year 2012

The Rate My Sausage champion Retail Sausage Of The Year for 2012 is Keevil & Keevil's Cumberland Sausage!  Congratulations guys!

In June 2012 we wrote...."Delectably juicy, lovely skins on the bangers, giving a perfect snappy crack when Junior Sidekick cut into it.  Much to my delight they fall apart enticingly when you push them apart with your knife, and the same crumbling effect occurs when you chew them, releasing the gorgeous flavour for you to savour...."

We loved K&K's Cumberlands...."Each sausage weighs more after frying than most of the other bangers that we’ve tried do before they even see the pan – make no mistake, these are big, rough and ready sausages designed to take on and defeat the hungriest of appetites."

Well done to Keevil & Keevil, you are Rate My Sausage Retail Champions for 2012!

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The runner-up for the retail category for 2012 is.....Keevil & Keevil's Pork, Honey & Mustard Sausage.  A double for K&K.

The first impression was “It’s all honey, where’s the hot stuff?”  Then, tasting the second sausage, ah, there it is!  This time it was mainly mustard with just a sniff of sweetness.  I like this a lot, the sausages seem to be hand-made with varying amounts of the component parts ending up in each link, instead of being industrially mashed together in some giant Kenwood mixer somewhere in Thailand.  The third sausage was a perfect mixture of the mustard and the honey, with the final mouthful largely mustardy, giving my tastebuds a final farewell scalding on the way down the hatch.

Just like it says on the packet, you can sniff sweet honey and tangy mustard at the same time, wafting out of the kitchen.  I couldn’t wait to get started on these sausages.

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Bronze medal for this Olympic year is, you will be surprised to hear, Tesco Finest British Pork & Red Leicester sausage.  It pained me to rate them so highly, but if nothing else this proved that Rate My Sausage judges each banger objectively on its own merits.  Well done Tesco.

Pork and red Leicester, so you’d hope they would taste cheesy, right?  Well they’re cheesy, no doubt about that.  The rather better than expected, succulent meat is your first flavour, then the super-savoury cheesiness appears.  I’d sum up these bangers as tasting like “cheese on toast, in sausage form” – and what the hell is wrong with THAT combo?  

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Fourth place, and a very well deserved "mentioned in despatches" goes to Peelham Farm Organic Pork & Ruby Veal Sausages.

Great bangers.  And the first time that RMS has ever dedicated a review to a single person, in this case Mikaela.  We really enjoyed these sausages, hence "Superb.  There’s a gamey flavour running throughout which I love and which is strong and insistently ever-present, but not overpowering.  A very grown-up flavour, intense and of concentrated meatiness, the pork and veal jostle and shove like squabbling siblings in the back of mum and dad’s car."

That's the retail awards for 2012.....well done to the winners and thank you for the fabulous bangers!  Here's to a good 2013 for you all.

Keevil & Keevil - Smithfield Market - Pork, Honey & Mustard Sausage

If you’re new to Rate My Sausage, Keevil and Keevil is a butchery business based in Smithfield meat market in that there London (by butchery business I mean like Jonesey out of Dad’s Army, as opposed to the Kray twins).  Their  CUMBERLAND sausages caused an absolute sensation here when they were reviewed way back in June this year, as they leapt salmon-like to the top of our secret scoring charts.

Incidentally, a word about the way we score the bangers that we review.  As you “may” expect it’s an eccentric system, tailored exactly to my own, very personal likes and dislikes, and is therefore incredibly subjective.  I make no apology for that – these reviews reflect “my” opinions, so I think it’s fair that our points system should do the same.  If you saw it you’d almost certainly be able to pick holes in it or criticise, hence the secrecy.  And it adds a rather tantalising layer of mystique to the whole Rate My Sausage process.  Overall, the good products hover around the top of the league, while the dross sinks to the bottom, so it pretty much does its job.  Anyway....

Keevil and Keevil is an uber-friendly firm who go out of their way to make customers feel welcome and special, and that’s lovely.  Did they just get lucky with the Cumberlands?  How did the Pork, Honey and Mustard sausages match up?  Dunk a chipolata in your cuppa and read on....

Meat Content:

The label says 70% pork, which feels about right.  These are firmly meaty bangers which squelch nicely in your mouth.  The change between the uncooked stage and being to ready to eat is quite remarkable, they bulk up and fill out like the local meathead bodybuilder has overdosed on steroids.  Or like Cartman when he takes Weight Gain 4000 – “Beefcaaaake!”  Except that these are made of pork.  Obviously.  Squeaky pork is invariably good pork, and these squeak like a navvie’s wheelbarrow.

Flavour:

The first impression was “It’s all honey, where’s the hot stuff?”  Then, tasting the second sausage, ah, there it is!  This time it was mainly mustard with just a sniff of sweetness.  I like this a lot, the sausages seem to be hand-made with varying amounts of the component parts ending up in each link, instead of being industrially mashed together in some giant Kenwood mixer somewhere in Thailand.  The third sausage was a perfect mixture of the mustard and the honey, with the final mouthful largely mustardy, giving my tastebuds a final farewell scalding on the way down the hatch.  The flavour varies between sausages, but I’m counting that as a really good feature, and proof of man, not robot, as the maker.

Texture:

OK, initially it looks a bit fine for RMS’ personal ideals.  Super snappy skins though balance that out, and hint at a super sausage.  It IS finely chopped, so points are lost there, but the end result is firm and satisfyingly muscular.  One point to note – look at the clearly defined stripes in the frying pan picture – a dead giveaway that there’s added sugars to give a false browning.  Sure enough you’ll find dextrose listed in the ingredients.  Leave it out guys, your bangers are superb without resorting to cheating like this!  Yellow card.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 77g

Average weight cooked - 67g

Shrinkage - 13%

The third lowest figure of the year, MORE than acceptable.  These sausages start off big before you cook them, and are still big when it’s time to eat.  That has to be a good thing.

Value For Money:

These were supplied as a review product so I didn’t actually have to pay for them, meaning a cost to me of zero – that’s my favourite price!  The K and K website lists the price as £18.50 for 30 sausages, weighing 2500g - this works out as a price of £7.40 per kg, or 62p per snorker.  The quality and flavour is good, and I felt absolutely full when I ate some - but balance that with the fine filling and added dextrose.  I’ll say that Keevil and Keevil’s pork, honey and mustard sausages are pretty good value for money.

The Bisto Factor:

Just like it says on the packet, you can sniff sweet honey and tangy mustard at the same time, wafting out of the kitchen.  I couldn’t wait to get started on these sausages.

Opening Hours:

As I said last time we reviewed them, you can place an order with Keevil and Keevil anytime you want to.  Just click and pick here:

KEEVILandKEEVIL