JTB Butchers (St
Albans, Herts) - Welsh DragonTucked away on a farm, down a quiet country lane we found what anyone would call a small butchers shop that also sells fruit and veg, eggs, savoury pastries, a wide variety of condiments and oils, and serves teas & coffees. This is no ordinary little butchers shop. It is well suported by the local community and has some most wonderful looking produce on sale. The customers there we spoke to will constantly praise the efforts of Claire and brother John.
Established in 2002 by John Pender (Claire and John's father) and simply called "John the butchers" hence the JTB, located in the converted bothy of Sandridgebury Farm is in an out of the way location, but we found it pretty easily. There's parking opposite the stables and riding school next door, and a seating area outside the shop to "take tea", have an ice cream, a bacon bap or a hot chocolate...
A busy butchers shop, yes, customers in and out constantly, but John and Claire had time to have a chat about their produce and what we do, and it turns out, their sausage man Stuart was aware of SausageReview having seen a previous review we had completed for Allingham's of Hitchin. Needless to say, the conversation was sausage, sausage, sausage...
We bought (eventually after much gassing) some rather good looking and very popular by all accounts, Sandridgebury Farm porks (another review coming shortly) and additionally John insisted we take a few of the Welsh Dragons also to try. We said thank you, don't mind if we do.
So 85%+ pork meat, this being supplied by Ludgates sourced from free range Oxfordshire farms. From what we read, TW Ludgates source from Woods Farm in Oxfordshire. All Pigs are born and reared outside and finished in straw yards. All are from RSPCA Freedom Foods Accredited Herds. JTB uses proper natural casings/skins, with their produce being all hand made and tied on site. Fresh leeks and chilli flakes go in to create that "Welsh Dragon" flavour. (Note: no dragons were harmed in the making of course) but we do need to go back to them to ask about whether wheat rusk or breadcrumbs are included in the mix, but eitherway I suspect these sausages are probably not gluten free.
Cooking up there was a lovely aroma from the pan. However we did get a few eruptions from the sausage ends as the skins browned, tightened and squeezed down of the filling. Not the end of the world but somewhat untidy. We also did get a large split skin which given the chunkyness of the filling, did in the end rupture somewhat. Now I think I had the heat up just a tad too high, but as the others were OK, I'll put that one down to us. No white ooze or oil released in the cooking so, not bad at all so far. A bit of weight loss agreed but these were nearly a quarter pound (100g) to start with so still plenty left after cooking.
The cooked sausage texture was very course indeed with large bits of fresh leek. The bite and chew, and "mouthfeel" was top drawer. Very good indeed. The chilli buzz was very much under control and wasn't overpowering like some we've previously tried from other makers. Most excellent flavour, and very good sucullence.
I kept a half sausage back to try once cold. Very good as it happens. It had a firmed up texture and still had a slight chilli tingle with it.
Would we buy these when we visit JTB
again? Absolutely...
JTB Butchers (St Albans, Herts) -
Welsh Dragon
(Aug
2025)
Here's the
sample details:
120x30mm before cooking, 110x30mm
after.
98g before cooking, 86g after.
That's a shrinkage of approx 8% & weight loss of approx
12%.
£15.99/kg
www.jtb-butchers.co.uk
JTB (John the Butchers)
Sandridgebury Farm,
Sandridgebury Lane,
St Albans
AL3 6JB
Opening times:
Tuesday -
Friday 8.30am-5pm
Saturday
8am-4pm
Sunday - Closed
Monday
- Closed
01727 852152
