I'm Cumbrian so I've been brought up eating arguably the best sausage going - the Cumberland sausage.
Nothing annoys me more than going to a hotel or restaurant for breakfast and them claiming to have Cumberland sausage and it's just a herby sausage. FYI a Cumberland sausage is traditionally very long, up to 50 centimetres, and sold rolled in a flat, circular coil - and unlinked. Now you know.
On my latest jaunt around Booths, I noticed a back of six Lakeland sausages that are prepared by butchers in Lancashire. I'm always up for trying something new so decided to give these ago. The pack of six sausages cost £3.75 so not too badly priced.
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But it feels like the price was the only thing that was decent about these. It was a glorious day at the weekend so what better way to enjoy the weather and test out these sausages than with a BBQ?
My partner got a BBQ for Christmas so he's always ready to bust it out at every opportunity. On Sunday evening we fired up the coals and flung the sausages on.
I left my other half to it while I made the salads and sides to go with the meat. As he brought them inside to put on the table, I questioned if they were actually cooked.
Although they had gone crispy on the outside, when I snapped one in half it looked very anaemic. I decided to chuck them in the oven for an extra ten minutes just to be sure, however, it made no difference.
So, satisfied they were cooked and the meat in the middle was just pale in complexion, I added these to my roll to make a sausage sarnie, but now without trying them on their own first. As I cut into them, it almost felt like the meat was resisting and it was very rubbery - I wasn't looking forward to what was coming next.
As I took my first bite, I couldn't taste anything. The only thing coming through was the charcoal taste you get from a BBQ. I was not impressed, where was the flavour, where was the decent texture, where was anything to make these sausages good?
I banged the rest in my roll with cheese and sauce and again, the only thing I could taste was the cheese and the sauce. There was no flavour coming through from these sticks of meat. All in all, I was not impressed and will not be buying them again.
Trusty Cumberland sausage, don't worry I won't be straying from you again. Cumberland sausage is typically filled with chopped or coarsely minced pork, to which is added pepper, thyme, sage, nutmeg and cayenne, and some rusk as a binder.
This was the flavour I was missing. I will point out, this is just my opinion and someone else might really enjoy them.
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