Salter & King (Aldeburgh) -
Rustic Italian
We
are always on the look out
on our travels for producers
of sausage that we've not
been to before...just like
Salter & King of
Aldeburgh...
We used to visit the Suffolk
coast a fare bit to see
granny but since her passing
and what with restrictions
in lock down and all that,
our trips have declined
considerably. However just
recently we did manage to
call in to Peasenhall on the
way home from our day visit
to Dunwich Heath. I was
expecting to be able pop in
to "Creasey's" for some
sausages. The butchery is
still there but now
under the name of Salter & King.
It's been a while since we'd
been through the village so
we were unaware that the
business had changed hands.
Well, we just made it before
closing time, I waited
outside until the previous
customer had left (social
distancing and all that) and
after a quick chat, bagged
some very good looking
Rustic Italian sausages. In
fact some extremely good
looking sausages!
Salter & King have shops in
the High Street, Aldeburgh,
and The Causeway, Peasenhall,
and refer to themselves as
"Craft Butchers". They have
a "promise" to their
customers that includes "to
sell only the very best
pasture-fed and
additive-free meat, and to
source all their meat from
free-range, organic and
small scale farmers who use
natural farming methods that
actively encourage the soil
and surrounding countryside
to flourish". This quite
honestly is right up our
street!
I won't copy here what's on
their web site about their
ethic, we'll put a link
below so you can look see
for yourself. Suffice to
say, we like what we see...
So the Rustic Italian
sausage. The chap I
spoke to briefly in the shop
said that these beauties
were made of pork from free
range Large Black pigs from a
Suffolk farm. Natural
casings, course cut pork,
seasonings and plenty of
fennel and garlic. How
could we not try them?
In the raw they do look
good, and once in the pan
the aroma was, well let's
not beat about, absolutely
blooming lovely!
We chose to sample these as
part of a sausage and mash,
which worked really well,
but there being plenty of
fennel (understatement!)
does perhaps make these more
suited we think to a pasta
main dish or perhaps a
sausage, tomato and lentil
stew...
The sausage itself had an
excellent flavour. A chunky
texture that gave a really
good bite and chew, and the
natural skins worked well
containing the meat and
juices perfectly. No splits
or bursts, and certainly
minimal residual oil left in
the pan. Shrinkage was
next to nothing but weight
loss was noticeable though.
Some say that oven baking
sausages is best but we
always pan fry because
that's the way we've always
sampled and wish to stay
consistent in our approach,
just in case you wondered.
I personally would have
marked these slightly higher
but it's a team effort after
all and one or two of the
"girlies" are not big on
fennel unfortunately, so
there we are.
These Rustic Italian
sausages are very, very
good, take it from us.
Next time we manage a visit
I will definitely buy some
more.
Salter & King (Aldeburgh)
- Rustic Italian
(Jul
2020)
Here's the
sample details:
120x30mm before cooking, 120x30mm
after.
93g before cooking, 75g after.
That's a shrinkage of 0% & weight
loss of approx 20%.
6 sausages approx. £5.00
(£10.00/kg)
Salter
& King, Aldeburgh
107-109 High St, Aldeburgh,
Suffolk, IP15 5AR
Opening hours: Monday - Saturday:
8am - 1pm
01728 452758
Salter
& King, Peasenhall
The Causeway, Peasenhall,
Saxmundham IP17 2HU
Opening hours: Monday - Saturday:
8am - 1pm
01728 660219
www.salterandking.co.uk