This was one of three tests carried out in March together with the staff and catering students at
Harrogate College and Gordon Atkinson of
Elite Meat of Harrogate .
We blind tested 11 supermarket sausages and as an experiment 1 "ringer" from
Bowland Outdoor Reared Pork who are one of our specialist sausage producers. Nearly all the 20 testers spotted this sausage and overall it came joint first with Waitrose. Morrisons Cumberland chipolatas came second with Walls Cumberland in last place.
Overall the results showed that it is hard to buy a genuine Cumberland sausage in our supermarkets. The sausage which was closest to a traditional Cumberland is the Duchy Originals Cumberland Ring which came third overall.
It is interesting to note that all the major supermarkets apart from Marks & Spencers and Waitrose make a 'traditional' Cumberland ring but these all did worse than the Cumberland sausages produced by M&S and Waitrose.
Read about how the sausages are
tested
Full reviews
.jpg)
|
'Tastes like cheap stuffing' and 'tastes sour' were two comments. At least it looks like a proper Cumberland, is fairly low on calories and is cheap!
|
|
|
These are sold loose on the meat counter at Booths. They are made by Richard Woodall. They are ok but not as good as we expected. they look good raw and cooked well but taste comments included 'bitty' and ' dry with too much pepper'.
|
.jpg)
|
Overall this came a credible third in our tests and in terms of taste is the closest to a traditional Cumberland sausage. It was also the only organic sausage tested and the second most expensive. We liked the strong peppery taste and chunky texture but thought that the skins are too tough.
|
|
The cheapest sausage tested had one of the highest calorie contents. Overall it did well and is good value for money with a credible sixth place. Not really a Cumberland, comments included 'bland then strong' - the peppery taste developed as you chewed.
|
|
A chunky, well seasoned sausage. Not enough bite or pepper to count as a proper Cumberland but still popular
|
|
As with the other premium sausages from Morrisons, the pack states that they are made with outdoor reared meat. It would have useful to explain exactly what this means. Good value for money and fairly low in calories, would have been even better as a thick sausage.
|
|
With a name like this expectations are high. Unfortunately they were not met. Good marks for appearance but we thought that this sausage was bland, greasy and lacked bite - the spicy black pepper taste promised by the label is sadly missing.
|
|
This came fifth overall, not bad but this is the most expensive sausage tested by some way. As with most of the major supermarkets, this is made in a traditional ring. The texture is good course chunks but there is little depth of flavour or real Cumberland bite and overall this is a dry sausage.
|
|
Fourth overall, a mild sausage which would be good for breakfast. A finely minced texture but a few commented that it was gristly.
|
|
The winner by a clear margin. This is one of the cheapest sausages tested and also has a low calorie content. We liked the peppery taste which lingered on the mouth and the juicy texture, other comments were 'supple but good' and 'well balanced'.
|
|
Not a good choice, very little taste and poor texture. Comments were bland and lots of gristle, very fatty as well. They are cheap but Asda and Kwik Save are both the same price or cheaper and did much better.
|
Also in this section...
