Sausage Review - we review sausages

We'd noticed the premises on Market Square had had a makeover and quite some makeover it is. The interior decor is very bold and very different from the former premises and come to that probably most high street butchers. The sausages too are big and bold as well...

It appears the butchers shop premises is still owned by Humphreys the previous business, and the "new" butchery business is operated entirely separately. If we haven't got this completely square I'm sure we'll get an email or call to put us straight and we'll update the page accordingly.

No fresh sausages were available unfortunately when we visited, but plenty were to be had as frozen. A pack of Traditional Porks then please.

These are big sausages at around average 126g each. The 4 in the vacuum seal pack weighed in at a total 504g and at 135mm long by 35mm are somewhat substational.  Excellent colouring in the raw and ye haa! NATURAL SKINS!  You know our beef about those collagen tubes and their failure during cooking...

The butcher we spoke to said they pride themselves on the quality of the pork that is sourced from a high welfare, free range producer in West Yorkshire. Keeping the recipe simple is also something he impressed on us. Quality pork, Maldon sea salt, white pepper and nutmeg all loaded in to natural hog casings.

So cooked up. We pan fry to keep our sampling consistent and yes we know oven bake, grill and air fry options do exist, but we do as we do. 

The skins browned really nicely. No splits or eruptions from the sausage ends, and no noticeable additional oil finding itself in to the pan. OK we did get just a tiny bit of that pale emulsion in little dots on the casings as the sausages warmed through, but this disappeared quite quickly. Not a show stopper but noticeable.

Rather than rely on guesswork as these are pretty large sausages we utilised a catering thermometer as we cooked to check the internal temperature and make sure that we exceeded 71°C for 20 seconds to make sure they were cooked sufficiently, but not overdone. 

Not bad succulence and quite a chunky texture we note which was good, but the bite and chew was on the soft side unfortunately.

Flavourwise, yes got the white pepper and touch of nutmeg. Seasoning-wise spot on for us.

The labelling didn't say whether these were made with wheat bran or that gluten free crumb, so we made a note to call in to the shop next time we shop that way and ask. We'll update the page once we have the info.

So to conclude a very satisfying traditional pork sausage with plenty of flavour that we would definitely buy again...


Bishop's (Bishop's Stortford) - Traditional Pork   (Dec 2025)

Here's the sample details:
135x35mm before cooking, 120x32mm after.
130g before cooking, 103g after.
That's a shrinkage of approx 9% & weight loss of approx 5%.
4 sausages in a 504g pack @ £8.06 (approx £16.00/kg)

    

Bishop's Butchers
5 Market Square,
Bishop's Stortford,
CM3 3UP