Sausage Review - we review sausages

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
Shop open 7 Days A Week:
Monday 08:00 - 05:30
Tuesday 08:00 - 05:30
Wednesday 08:30 - 05:30
Thursday 08:00 - 05:30
Friday 08:00 - 05:30
Saturday 08:00 - 05:30
Sunday 09:00 - 01:00

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