Pork Pie Of The Month - June 2019 - Manor Farm Shop, Leasingham

Welcome to the new edition of Pork Pie Of The Month! And we’ve found a  right tasty pie for the first in the series. ..

This pork pie was bought at Manor Farm Shop in Leasingham, but the credit must go to butchers par-excellence Southern & Thorpe in nearby Ruskington. Priced at £2.99 for a good size pie we really enjoyed road-testing one of Britain’s favourite pastries.

It appears rustic and home-made which is just what we want.  The score for appearance would have been a little higher if the pie hadn’t erupted over itself out of its top hole. Which sound quite rude when I read it back.

When you cut in this pie holds together very nicely unlike a lot of mass-produced competitors. There’s a good amount of jelly but, as a jelly lover, I wish there had been even more.  The filling is hand mixed and is made up of lovely large lumps of porky goodness which surrenders an authentic flavour.  Again, miles better than the filling squirted out of tubes in the factory versions.

There’s a nice and subtle peppery after-taste which we loved, and altogether this is a really good quality pork pie. Here are the scores on the doors:

Appearance & Aroma  - 3

Filling – 3.5

Pastry - 4

Jelly – 3.5

Total – 14

Price £2.99

Pigs In Blankets Taste Test - Christmas 2018

Pigs in blankets are the best part of your Christmas dinner, but why do people insist on buying the ready-made, tiny monstrosities from the supermarkets? We always make our own so we have gone beyond the call of duty to rate five versions of this festive favourite. We bought 2 chipolata and 5 streaky bacon rashers from each butcher - if you make your own you will not need so much bacon, so bear this in mind when comparing the unit prices....

Each sample was voted on four aspects - Flavour, Juiciness (the kids' choice of category), Appearance & Aroma, and Texture. Marks out of 5 in each category meaning a maximum possible score of 80 points. Writing down of scores was hidden so that there could be no influencing between judges. And the winner was....

Sample A - Southern & Thorpe of Ruskington. Congratulations, another "prestigious" award. Scoring 57 out of 80 was a well deserved victory. Judges voted exceptionally high on Texture, well done chaps! Unit price for these was £0.71.

Runners-up were Odlings Butchers of Navenby (sample E), scoring 48 points. The flavour and appearance were both excellent, a well-earned silver medal. These cost £1.04 each.

In a close third place were the pigs in blankets from Picks of Dorrington (sample B). These were a good all-rounder with consistent scores across the categories. Cost was £0.75.

Close behind in fourth spot were Ancaster Butchers, sample C. Superb scores for flavour and texture were annoyingly cancelled out by the streaky bacon being a little on the short side and splitting apart a bit. I will be re-making these and using to pieces of bacon for each. Cost £1.11.

Fifth and last by a huge margin were the awful Richmonds/Tesco combo. Richmond chipolata looked disgusting when cold and tasted even worse when cook. All slop, no chop. The Fake Farm bacon shrank too much, leaving the end results looking like dismembered fingers. Cost £0.43 each - and a waste of 43p at that!

All in all a very informative and mostly tasty way to spend a family afternoon. The conclusion must be to buy your own quality ingredients from your local butcher and create your own pigs in blankets, as opposed to buying the pre-packed, tiny, unsatisfying product from the supermarkets.

Southern & Thorpe - Ruskington - Chicken & Sage Sausage (aka Chicken Linconshire)

We’ve tasted sausages from this place before and we were very impressed. Last time we tried their Lincolnshire sausages as the first part of Lincolnshire Sausage Season (further reviews coming soon, by the way), and after eight tests so far they are currently top of the table. Must tell you something. If you want to read what we wrote then click on this link – SOUTHERN & THORPE LINCOLNSHIRE SAUSAGES– but do so after you finish reading this one!

The obvious question you’d ask is “Why chicken?” Their pork Lincolnshires are so good there would seem to be little point in diversifying. The answer lies in Southern & Thorpe’s desire to provide their customers with exactly what they want. There was a request for a slightly healthier version of the Lincolnshire sausage and instead of altering the recipe mix of meat,/bulking,/seasoning etc it was decided to produce something completely different. A side effect of this is that these bangers are less fatty than usual and therefore popular with customers who are watching their waistlines - but still offer high quality flavour and texture.

Where To Find Them:

Point yourself towards the large village of Ruskington in south Lincolnshire, then aim for the middle of the village. There is a babbling brook (called The Beck) running down the main street and you can park either side of that or in the Co-op car park, for free. Head towards the church and Southern & Thorpe is directly opposite – look for the shop with a conservatory on its roof! If you’re using SausNav the postcode is NG34 9DY.

But beware! These are definitely a limited edition product, produced in small batches. Very much an “under the counter” offering, available only if you know the password and roll your trouser leg up to your knee while singing Waltzing Matilda. Well, maybe not quite “that” extreme, but if you’re visiting specifically for these chicken sausages I’d strongly recommend phoning ahead to ensure you’re not disappointed.

Opening Hours:

Monday – 0800 to 1300

Tuesday – 0800 to 1700

Wednesday – 0800 t 1700

Thursday – 0800 to 1700

Friday – 0800 to 1700

Saturday – 0800 to 1300

Sunday - Closed

Stanwatch:

No Stans as before, but the lovely helpful Stanettes were there in force, delightful as always.

Flavour:

It’s finger-licking tasty! Lighter flavour than the pork version but bloody lovely nonetheless. There’s a healthy hit of sage as you’d expect backed up with nicely balanced seasoning. The pepper content is just right – you can tell it’s there but it stays in the shadows and lets the sage and chicken take centre stage. Most chicken sausages you can find are bland, mass-produced and quite flavourless – these ones are a delight.

Texture:

The chicken is crumbly but moist, how they’ve done it is beyond me. Crumbly but they stick together bravely until you get a forkful in your mouth – this disintegrates and allows the flavours to introduce themselves to your taste buds. The sausages shrink noticeably to the eye during cooking but retain a very healthy and creditable percentage of their initial weight. Good texture!

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 61 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 53 grams

Meat Content = yet again I failed to make a note. Call them and ask – 01526 834359.

Value For Money:

£3.60 for 8 sausages, weighing 484 grams. This works out as £7.44 per kg and 45p per banger.

We rate this as very good value for money. Maybe more costly than other chicken sausages you may use if you’re trying to lose weight, but oh so much better in every way.

Three Word Verdicts:

Junior Sidekick “Need more chicken”

Ruth “Different and interesting”

The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:

Little aroma during cooking, certainly not as tempting as your average pork banger. Don’t let that put you off though. There is a constant low level sizzle during cooking, even at a low temperature – what a tease!

And Finally, Esther:

Different and delicious sums it up. Buy some!

Lincolnshire Sausage Season #1 of 13 - Southern & Thorpe - Ruskington

“A perfect sausage”. Does such a thing exist?  According to the huge banner proudly displayed behind the counter at Southern & Thorpe in beautiful downtown Ruskington it does....

The banner is based on Southern & Thorpe’s (from now on referred to as S&T) success at the Poacher food competition which is held biennially in Lincolnshire. For the sausage contest the judges approach each sample with a starting score of 100 and deduct points as they go through the tasting process. At one competition a judge sampled S&T’s Lincolnshire sausage and couldn’t find any way to take points away, thus declaring that they were “A perfect sausage”. Quite a strapline. I was fascinated to be eating a product with such a successful heritage.

While I was in the shop a yummy mummy known as Sharron came in and was effusive in praise. “When I was pregnant my craving was for these Lincolnshire sausages. And ever since my daughter was born, she will only eat their Lincolnshire sausages.” Which is surely a sign that these bangers reach places that your Tesco and Lidl atrocities will never reach. An unhealthy diet for the daughter I think, but if you’re going unhealthy, go quality unhealthy!

 

Where To Find Them:

In Ruskington, Lincolnshire. This  is a large village through which a picturesque beck babbles, and the duck population is a major feature. Traffic often comes to a standstill as a mother duck leads a line of ducklings across the road, so be alert. Ruskington was recorded in The Domesday Book as Rischintone, meaning “farmstead where rushes grow”. This is of Scandinavian origin, suggesting that Ruskington was once home to hordes of horny-helmeted Viking invaders. Nobody is likely to slice off your head with an axe these days, so please feel safe to pop into 3 High Street and ask for Neil (more of him later). If you’re using SausNav type in NG34 9DY.

 

 

Stanwatch:

No Stans on view at Southern & Thorpe....the staff are mostly ladies! So we’ll make up a new Rate My Sausage word and call them Stanettes. And the Stanettes are super-helpful and friendly. Nice work S&T.

 

Flavour:

There is no greater compliment than that these sausages remind me of my childhood, in a very good way. We all have some rosey tinted glasses when we think back, but these bangers just take you back to family tea after PE on Thursday afternoon. So warm and cosy.  These sausages are absolutely delicious.  The seasoning is right, the saltiness backs up the main flavour of the pork. The meat is delectable, juicy with a hint of heat that doesn’t dominate.

Biggest praise though must be - my awesome girlfriend Ruth said “I might and go and have another one.” Which she did. And it disappeared at a rate of knots. Poor Ruth was not to know of this obsession of mine before we got together, so it’s to her great credit that she actually puts up with it and also embraces it.

Texture:

First cut into this sausage....”Snap”.  Natural casings is already a plus point. Super crumbly as you can see from the pictures, cut very coarse which is fabulous. When you slice them they almost fall apart, but not quite. Herby, sagey, and oh so more-ish. There are small knobbles of sausage on the plate when you eat them which is great, a lovely way to end the meal. Just as an extra plus point, these sausages are different shapes and sizes both before and after cooking, we like!

Vital Statistics:

Average Weight Uncooked = 59 grams

Average Weight Cooked = 50 grams

Meat Content = not known %. Dammit, as always I have ballsed up! Sorry....

Value For Money:

£3.35 for 8 sausages weighing 471 grams. This works out as £7.11 per kg and 42p per banger.

We rate this as absolutely bloody briliant value for money.

Junior Sidekick's Three Word Verdict:

Sam was not around for this test but he will be eating a lot of them in the future. He’ll taste them, he’ll squish them, he’ll approve and he will scoff! And we’re taking on a new recruit to Rate My Sausage who is keen to tell you about his personal fave butcher products....

Opening Hours:

See for yourself.

The "Aah, Bisto" Factor:

Very little aroma out of the bag, but wow, after cooking these sausages smell completely of great meat, good herbs and spices and utterly like the sausages you ate when you were seven years old. And that is a rather wonderful thing.

The Imaginatively Titled Next Day Cold Sausage Test:

We sliced these suckers up and sprinkled them onto scrambled eggs on toast. The sausages were fantastic yesterday, and did not disappoint the day after. The fridge as always encouraged the sausage to close up and firm up. Whereas yesterday was a loose cavalry charge of flavour, the cold version has “formed square” and stands solid, firm and wonderful. I can’t decide whether I like them better hot or cold, both are adorable.

 

And Finally, Esther:

This is the first of our Lincolnshire Sausage Season reviews. And blimey, the bar has been set extremely high. We adored these sausages and went back to buy more. Do yourself a favour and visit Ruskington. We started this review with the question “perfect sausage?” Well......maybe.....