Low Fat
Sausages - are you sure?
March 2013
Low fat sausages?
It's not the sort I would
immediately think of buying, however
it looks like there's members of the
Weight Watchers community out there
counting their calories that do and
probably will be quick to quote
their "pro points" of the ones they
say they prefer.
Now call me
cynical but how can a low fat
sausage be anything like a "proper
sausage"?
A properly made,
shall we call it a traditional
sausage, will have around say 20%
fat in the mix. If you go less than
this, the result when cooked we're
told can be a rather dry and the
taste and feel just isn't right. So
if you take out some of the fat,
what can you put in to the sausage
to still keep it moist and not
affect the taste?
Producers
it seems have access to alternatives
(or fillers) to make lower fat
content sausages where a proportion
of the added fat in the mix is
replaced with the likes of SOYA
PROTEIN, "FAT REPLACER", GELATIN (or
AGAR AGAR), NON FAT DRY MILK POWDER,
POTATO STARCH and TAPIOCA FLOUR to
name just a few. These fillers
absorb and bind with water to bulk
and keep moisture within. OK I get
that but it's the "fat replacer"
that I have been told of as it
sounds rather "industrial", that I
wanted to know more about...
From some research I find that
there's a dietary fibre (Inulin)
developed originally in Belgium
that's extracted from certain
plants, that when mixed with water,
results in a creamy emulsion/ paste
that can be added to the sausage mix
to replace some of the fat. This fat
replacer holds moisture and because
of it's neutral flavour gives the
sausage when cooked little or no
perceivable reduction in taste and
the "mouth feel" is more consistent
with a full fat sausage.
In
speaking to a local producer I asked
whether he would consider low fat
production and his view was that it
wouldn't make business sense for him
to produce as the demand was very
low. He also added that if people
really watching their weight wanted
to reduce calorie intake then
perhaps they shouldn't eat sausages
at all? Or at least, instead of a
portion of 2, make it 1 thus seeing
a reduction of 50% but still enjoy
their meal perhaps?
I can
see where he's coming from but what
are Low Fat Sausages like?
Recently we sampled some
Powters (Newmarket) - Low Fat
sausages and surprisingly they taste
very good. They had a nice "herby"
and spiced flavour, and certainly a
very good medium texture with a
slight crumble as you bite in to
them. The skins browned well. So
certainly a sausage that seem to
work as a sausage should. From the
ingredients on the packet, there's
no mention of a specific fat
replacer so I expect that the mix is
bulked with extra rusk which is
probably why the texture is
crumblier no doubt.
I wasn't
convinced entirely though that these
would replace "proper sausages"...
So, armed with some low fats
and some standard Powters, I cooked
up a sausage and mash for the troops
to see what the results of a full
comparison would bring.
The
low fats were spotted immediately.
The texture gave them away.
Quite crumbly compared with
standard ones the troops reported.
I agree but at the end of the day,
low fat Powters from what we've
found are at least as close you are
probably able to get to a proper
sausage whilst still giving some
reduction in fat content.
Weight Watchers: 2pp for 1, 5pp for
2 and 7pp for 3 - well, what ever
that means?.......
