Pickled Pig (Cuffley, Herts)
- Sheftalia
So
OK, yes, not the usual
sausage we sample but I
called in to Simmons the
bakers (I cannot resist a
cake or two from this
excellent bakers) and
noticed a very interesting
master butchers and
delicatessen just along the
parade of shops of Station
Road, Cuffley. Bought a pack
of sheftalia. Something
different for a change was
my thinking.
Sheftalia is a traditional
sausage made from lamb and
pork (sometimes beef
perhaps?) that originated in
Cyprus. Caul fat, the
membrane that surrounds the
stomach of pig or lamb, is
used to wrap the ingredients
rather than a regular
sausage casing. Looks a bit
like a big spiders web.
These sheftalia are pork,
minced quite coarsely, with
plenty of onion and mixed
with a good amount of
parsley, black pepper,
cinnamon and cloves. From
what I've read they may be
best cooked on a barbeque
grill, however it's raining
here persistently at present
and I'm not firing up the
BBQ in the rain just for
these, a grill pan on the
hob will have to suffice!
Didn't
get the meat % to be honest
at the time of purchase, and
the labelling doesn't give
us a clue either, however
when cooked there was very
very minimal oil from these
plus when sliced open they
appear to be high percentage
meat. These do contain rusk
(wheat flour etc) so will
not be gluten free please
note.
So how did they go and what
do they taste like?
Well, given we didn't BBQ
them, and all that, they
seem to have cooked up quite
well. Getting a bit charred
on the outside is desirable
evidently too. The texture
was very open and crumbly
when cut (see photo below)
and thankfully the "caul fat
casing" held up OK and
seemed to melt into the
surface of the sausage. I
know this sounds a bit
strange.
The taste was "different" to
what we expected though, but
we couldn't put our finger
on what was the dominant
flavour.
These sheftalia are heavy
with onion, and that's fresh
onion plus parsley. Can't be
the parsley, so we are wondering if
the onions used are perhaps
slightly pickled in some
way. Must ask next time I
call in to the shop.
Definitely a unusual
flavour, but eatable all the
same. Very meaty though.
The team said they found
them OK but may have enjoyed
them better perhaps straight
off the BBQ within some
pita, souvlaki style with a
dollop of yoghurt. You
really can't please some
people.
Would we buy again? Probably
yes, but definitely for the
barbeque. Roll on the summer
then...
Pickled Pig (Cuffley, Herts)
- Sheftalia
(Feb
2024)
Here's the
sample details:
65g before cooking, 57g after approx.
That's a weight loss of approx 12%.
5 sheftalia in a 498g pack £6.70 (£13.45/kg)
Pickled Pig
32 Station Road
Cuffley
Hertfordshire
EN6 4HEU
020 3457 8890
facebook.com/PickledPigCuffley
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