Mystycroft (Halstead) - Old
Smokey Let's get straight to the point...these are blooming good smokey flavoured sausage with plenty of go from good quality ingredients! They've made our all time top 10, so you won't go wrong with these!
Prompted by an email, we popped over to Halstead Market and met the very nice people from Mystycroft. Needless to say we came away with a few different packs of their produce, of which Old Smokey finds way to our sampling first!
Mystycroft from Burtons Green, Halstead, Essex was established in 2009 and rear their own rare breed Oxford Sandy & Black, Large Black, and some Pietrain pigs. Their sausage man Stuart Osborne, tells me that the quality of pork produced is very high and the flavour is exceptional. Please visit their web site (link below) for more information as they also produce bacon, ham, pork joints and to be honest the range of sausages produced is extensive. Now come on, 26 different flavours of sausage is extensive in any ones book!
So the Old Smokey...interesting...the labelling states 79% pork, but I'm sure the percentage is higher. The smokey flavouring is from added essence so let's be clear that these aren't "smoked"sausage, however the flavour is wonderfully smokey all the same. The skins are good quality natural hog as they should be in our opinion for proper sausages!
Cooked up they are succulent, flavoursome, with a good bite and chew. Texture-wise, medium and they do have a slight crumbliness as you eat which I liked. Exceptional with mash and onions I have to say and good value too. The troops here concurred, these are a proper sausage!
We will definitely have some more of these ...
Mystycroft (Halstead) - Old Smokey
(Nov
2013)
Here's the
sample details:
100x28mm before cooking,
95x30mm after.
73g before cooking, 63g after.
That's a shrinkage of approx 0% &
weight loss of approx 13%.
6 sausages approx. £3.50 (£7.95/kg)
Mystycroft Quality Meats
Burtons Green
Halstead ESSEX CO9 1RH
www.essexpork.co.uk
