Sausage Review - we review sausages

Smiths of Essex Ltd have a small shop in the coastal town of Brightlingsea, which is not that far from Colchester.  Our friends from Thorrington, a village quite close to Brightlingsea, shop regularly at Smiths. Another bag of free sausages this time for us then...

It's difficult to review fully a product when you don't have all the information on the makings. The packaging didn't have any details and nothing was asked at the time of purchase unfortunately, however going by our previous sampling of Smiths sausages the quality of the ingredients is far from an issue. We will make a point to call in to the shop when it's open next time we're over that way. Good natural skins though we note, and good colour in the raw.

So, we were handed these already frozen in the bag albeit frozen only for a couple of weeks so should be OK. I always wonder whether some taste is lost through freezing. Mind you I've read that freezing can increase tenderness, so we will have to see.

Cooked up the skins browned very nicely and there wasn't a great deal of residual oil in the pan. We were expecting though a discernable smell of hogroast, but nothing except normal sausage aroma to be honest.

The same with the taste unfortunately. We couldn't get anything rather than a normal pork sausage taste. Now whether the freezing or perhaps a problem with the mix is hard to say. Good medium sausage texture and taste for a sausage of course, but not quite what we expected.

The price, £4.92 for 6 loose ones still isn't bad at all but weight loss in cooking was on the high side.  At £9.99 a Kilo too, this does push these slightly towards the greater than everyday sausage bracket.


Smiths (Brightlingsea) - Hogroast Sausages  (Sep 2023)

Here's the sample details:
120x30mm before cooking, 110x30mm after.
83g before cooking, 64g after.
That's a shrinkage of approx 8% & weight loss of approx 22%.
£4.92 for 6 loose (490g) £9.99 / Kg

Smiths of Essex Ltd
14 High St,
Brightlingsea,
Colchester CO7 0AE
01206 302939

Also at:
89 High Street,
Maldon,
Essex,
CM9 5EP
01621 853271

www.smithsbutcher.co.uk

Sunday: Closed
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 8am – 4pm
Wednesday: 8am – 4pm
Thursday: 8am – 4pm
Friday: 8am – 4pm
Saturday: 7:30am – 3pm