Ian Wright - Creake Abbey Farmers Market - Norfolk Pork Sausage

I bet you didn't know that Ian Wright's sausages have graced these porky pages once before? Way back in March 2012 they were the subject of a guest review written for us by author and sitcom genius Alex Marsh . Here's what he had to say - Jonny B's Review - a positive write-up on the whole.

Now it's time for us to run the RMS rule over Mister Wright's Norfolk Pork sausages, having found them at Creake Abbey Farmers Market, just as Jonny B described. Ian Wright is a lovely chap, gentle in nature, helpful and a pleasure to buy bangers from. Let the rating begin!

Where To Find Them:
Creake Abbey Farmers Market (satnav NR21 9LF). I don't know if they are available elsewhere.  But please do pop along, as well as Ian Wright's you'll be spoiled for choice for good produce.


Flavour:
Mildly salty, but a warm taste of home and childhood. There is more of the salt than pepper, it works quite nicely. Mellow, melting, inoffensive and.....nice.

Texture:
The skins are great, nice work Ian. The texture is quite even throughout, mid-size pieces. When you push this sausage apart you get lots of nice crumbly crumbs. Overall it's slightly disappointing, very uniform all the way through, every slice pretty much identical. Not terrible, far from it, but not mind-blowing either. Just.....nice.


Junior Sidekick's Three Word Verdict:
Not very chewy.

Vital Statistics:
Average Weight Uncooked = 57 grams
Average Weight Cooked = 50 grams
Meat Content = Don't Know - sorry, my bad, won't do it again, etc....


Value For Money:
£3.37 for 6 sausages weighing 341 grams. This works out as £9.88 per kg and 56p per banger.

We rate this as good value for money.

The Imaginatively Titled Next Day Cold Sausage Test:
There were none of these sausages left to test out in the morning. We "will" re-start this part of the reviews soon, promise.


And Finally, Esther:
Nice....

Baker's - Norwich Market - Norfolk Pork Sausage

I found Bakers the butchers on Norwich Market in February, when visiting the Norfolk Diet farmers’ market outside the Forum.  Their stall is very close to that of the most excellent Pickering's butchers, whose sausages we loved.  Pickering's Norwich Sausage  Could this smashing city centre market provide us with two smashing butchers, selling super smashing sausages?

Well...

You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and sadly Bakers fluffed their lines.  I had to loiter with intent for several minutes before I was noticed, and then, when I did eventually show up on their Customer Radar, the demeanour was gruff and surly.  Seriously Not Good guys!  There was no please or thank you during the transaction, another huge disappointment.  Frankly I felt as if my presence and potential custom was something of an inconvenience. Very depressing.  The sausages would need to be absolutely exceptional if Bakers had any hope of emerging with their reputation intact.

How did they fare? Read on dear sausage lover....

Meat Content:

70%.  The lumps and bumps of meat inside indicate a decent amount of pork content, and it “seems” to be decent quality pork at that.  Not bad but nothing to write home about. 

Flavour:

Warm on the tongue, there is a Lot of salt included here, in my opinion too much of the warm stuff.  Very little going on, flavours-wise, and these sausages taste cheap.

Texture:

These snorkers looked very finely chopped when sliced, as you can see, and smelled exactly like a motorway service station banger (tasting notes show two “sad-face smilies” at this point).  BUT! Amazingly, and a first positive note in this entire review, they were much lumpier than they looked.  Disappointment melted away and became “OK, not too bad”....actually the texture was very good, lots of chunky bits and bobs, and a lovely welcome surprise.

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 65g

Average weight cooked - 52g

Shrinkage - 19%

Average numbers for this average product. Neither good nor bad, unremarkable sums it up.

Value For Money:

£2.54 for six sausages, weighing 390g - this works out as a price of £6.50 per kg, or 42p per snorker. For me this price is on the lofty side for what you get.  Based on this pricing I’m rating Baker’s Norfolk Pork sausages as below average value for money.

The Bisto Factor:

Notes read “smell fab when frying”.  These are short and stubby, smell great, and appealing - just like me!

The Imaginatively Titled Next Day Cold Sausage Test:

Tasty! Surprisingly the skins became rather chewy and weren’t a patch on the hot version.  The filling was juicy and crumbly.  Some like it hot but taste-wise these bangers revel in the cold. Worth buying some just to fry, chill, and enjoy.

Stan Spotting:

There was a Stan in the background, but sadly he was either engrossed in the butchering he was undertaking or completely disinterested in customers.  The former, I hope.

And Finally, Esther:

Great texture, shame about the taste.

W Rayment - Ely - Norfolk Pork Sausage

Rayment was the first butcher I found when I first visited Ely back in 2010, and we reviewed their   Traditional-Pork  sausages, finding them herby, meaty and excellent value for money – could their Norfolk variety match up?  I introduced myself when I walked in and was alarmed to see a crispy, yellowing copy of the original review produced from under the counter!  Checking that my exit route to the door was clear in case the next below-counter surprise was a finely honed meat cleaver with my name on it, I tentatively asked if I could run another review.  “Of course you can” was the reply, leading to immediate blood pressure reduction and significant sphincter readjustment.  Phew!

Everybody has heard of the famous Lincolnshire sausage, right?  Of course they have!  But Norfolk is a very important county for the production of top quality pork, so why isn’t there a Norfolk sausage?  Well, there is!  And you can find them on sale at W Rayment in Ely.  Enigmatic boss Lawrence (star sign Cancer, lucky number 3) was behind the counter when I recently visited, as part of my Ely Farmers Market expedition in August, and he filled me in on the whys and wherefores of the whole Norfolk Sausage story.  To cut a long story short the recipe was designed by “old school legend Derek” (Lawrence’s words, not mine) as an attempt to invent a banger worthy of the title. 

Are the sausages up to the task?  Read on to find out.  And, whatever you do, do NOT ask Lawrence if all women are the same, or whether there’s a wife number four on the horizon - that meat cleaver may yet be raised in furious anger!

Meat Content:

Listed as 68%, tastes more.  The pork is flavoursome in a slightly different way – it tastes.....hot and sweaty, like pork straight out of the piggy gym (that isn’t meant as a criticism by the way).  It’s juicy and there’s plenty of chunkiness to satisfy your carnivorous cravings.  I didn’t find any “dodgy” bits either, which is slightly disappointing for Rate My Sausage but good news for the more normal sausage-buying public.

Flavour:

Have a quick look at the uncooked sausages, and note the abundance of different coloured flecks lurking under the skin.  I was expecting herby, spicy yumminess judging by the pre-cooked look, and this was backed up by the way that the individual slices appeared.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Lawrence and his crew are trying to create a variation on the Lincolnshire recipe and they’ve done a pretty damn good job with their Norfolk Pork Sausages.  This banger is warm and well designed, with a tasty combination of seasoning and a delightful slap of heat to boot, and were just the job after a very soggy afternoon on the allotment.

Texture:

Quite small cut, unlike the stereotype Lincolnshire recipe, but when you probe and push the individual pieces they separate very nicely and obediently.  If you keep a slice in your mouth for a few moments the texture comes into its own and you can taste and feel the component parts splitting apart and delivering a lovely sausage-eating experience.  And, as a bonus, different slices give you slight variations in texture when you eat – very good!

Shrinkage: 

Average weight uncooked - 94g

Average weight cooked - 81g

Shrinkage - 14%

What a fine statistic for Rayments, big bangers before and after visiting the pan.  Good work Lawrence and Derek, keep it up!

Value For Money:

£2.38 for four sausages, weighing 375g - this works out as a price of £6.35 per kg, or 60p per snorker.  That’s not a low price, but then again, these aren’t bad sausages – rated as Good value for money.

Through A Child’s Eyes:

Junior Sidekick not on duty.

The Imaginatively Titled Next Day Cold Sausage Test:

I kept half of the largest sausage in the fridge until the next day – which probably weighed as much as two and a half “regular” samples.  And yay, I did slice the banger into many pieces, And It Was Good.  Biblically good, chilled solidly into paving slabs full of guilty flavour.  You just Have to try these cold!

Opening Hours:

Mea culpa, I didn’t note the opening times.  What a plum.  I heartily recommend a visit though, so you may be well advised to call beforehand to check that they’re open.  The number is 01353 662900.

And Finally, Esther:

Variation from slice to slice?  Check.  Erupted ends?  Check.  Excellent candidate to be used as a template for a “Norfolk Pork” sausage?  Check.  I couldn’t really criticise these sausages, and you should buy some soon to see if you agree with me.

Thank you Lawrence and team for a most enjoyable visit, hope to return soon!