The great gourmet banger test
The great gourmet banger test: Whether it’s pork and stilton or fennel and chilli, sales of posh sausages are sizzling.
The season for hearty comfort food is upon us, and there’s nothing Brits love more than bangers. Sales of sausages are at an all-time high, with three billion consumed every year.
Yet far from being a cheap option, the real boom has been in gourmet ranges, with specialised flavours or a high meat content, selling seven times more than budget bangers.
But how healthy are posh sausages? Nutritionist Angela Dowden examined the contents of some of the best-sellers, while sausage-loving eight-year-old Archie Collins puts them to the taste test.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/10/52.jpg Pork talk: Amanda Cable and son Archie test sausages
WAITROSE: 6 ENGLISH PORK & CARAMELISED RED ONION SAUSAGES
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Price: £2.59 (43p per sausage)
Pork content: Pork shoulder 41pc, pork belly 39pc
Contains (per uncooked sausage)
159 calories, 11.55 fat of which 4.8g saturated, 0.85g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Caramelise nicely in the pan, and retain shape perfectly without giving off too much fat. Cook quickly and evenly. Succulent and packed with flavour.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: Most sausages contain preservatives. Look out for nitrates or nitrites, which can irritate the stomach. There’s nothing bad in here, and there is 80 per cent pork, which is good.
Gourmet sausages tend to have more ingredients. As a guide, anything you recognise from your own store cupboard won’t be harmful.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: They were lovely and greasy to eat. I found the onion flavour too strong, but my mum and dad loved them.
ALDI: ASHFIELD PORK & SUNDRIED TOMATO PREMIUM SAUSAGES
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Price: £1.99 (33p per sausage)
Pork content: 77pc
Contains (per uncooked sausage) 185 calories, 14.9g fat, of which 5.1g saturates, 0.9g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Gave off a fair amount of fat, which helped them to cook and colour nicely . Plenty of flakes of sundried tomato within the sausages, and deliciously moist to cut into.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: Women should have no more than 20g of saturated
fat a day, so just one of these contains a quarter of your recommended daily allowance. Try to stick to two of these sausages. A five- to ten-year-old child should have only one per meal.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: My favourite! Taste was lovely and there wasn’t any fatty, gristly bits.
MORRISONS: THE BEST PORK, BLOSSOM HONEY & ENGLISH HERB SAUSAGES
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Price: £2.59 (43p per sausage)
Pork content: 78pc
Contains (per grilled sausage)
133 calories, 9g fat of which 3.8g saturates, 0.8g salt
HOW THEY COOK: A nice thick sausage but difficult to cook evenly. Inside, delicate herbs gave a nice seasoning and the honey taste was subtle but pleasant.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: The saturated fat level is good for sausages, but for a supposed ‘gourmet’ sausage the meat content is a little on the low side.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: These were horrible — they tasted of washing-up liquid, not honey.
SAINSBURY’S: TASTE THE DIFFERENCE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR BRED PORK SAUSAGES
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Price: £2 for six (33p per sausage)
Pork content: 97pc
Contains (per cooked sausage) 138 calories, 10.5g fat of which 3.8g saturates, 0.67g salt.
HOW THEY COOK: These didn’t brown evenly, but they kept their very solid shape. A solid, meaty texture once cooked, but the taste was a little too bland.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: There is only 3 per cent of other ingredients in these sausages which is great. This means they are very high in meat, the saturated content is at the lower end and so is the salt level. If you are going to have a sausage, this one has a good clean list of ingredients and is high in protein. Protein curbs appetite,
which means your body won’t crave too many.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: I found this really boring and bland. I would never be able to eat them unless they were covered in ketchup.
ASDA: EXTRA SPECIAL VINTAGE CHEDDAR & ONION CHUTNEY PORK SAUSAGES
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Price £2.58 (43p per sausage)
Pork content: 80pc
Contains: (per cooked sausage) 163 calories, 7.9g fat of which 4.5g saturated, 0.85g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Very succulent, and cooks well in its own fat. Caramelised
slightly to give a sweet and sticky skin — making the cooked sausage even tastier.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: There’s not enough Cheddar here to add to your saturated fat levels, so despite the fact that these sausages have cheese in, they are no more unhealthy than the others.
Like all of the sausages we have tried, these contain sulphites which prevent food poisoning bugs developing. Sulphites are widely used, but you should note that they can cause wheezing with some asthmatics.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: I was surprised I liked these, because I don’t like Cheddar and I don’t like onions. But they were really tasty and juicy.
LIDL: MILTON GATE PORK & BRAMLEY APPLE SAUSAGES
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Price: £1.99 (33p per sausage)
Pork content: 77pc
Contains: (per grilled sausage) 163 calories, 12.9g fat of which 4.7g saturates, 0.73g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Cooks quickly and easily, with a nice overall golden colour. Satisfying chunks of apple inside.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: The apple content certainly doesn’t make these any healthier. Sausages are great, but it’s not healthy to eat them all the time and you should grill rather than fry.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: The flavour was OK, but they were way too chewy. Like eating the dog’s toy bone.
MARKS & SPENCER: SICILIAN-STYLE PORK, FENNEL & CHILLI SAUSAGES
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Price: £2.69 (44p per sausage)
Pork content: 85pc
Contains (per uncooked sausage) 170 calories, 14.1g fat of which 5.2g saturates, 0.93g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Looks delicious with a nice even colour, and sticky juices in the pan. Stay firm when cooked, with herbs and flakes of chilli clearly visible and adding a wonderful kick to the taste.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: The ingredients sound very posh, and this scores points for having just one preservative — E223.
This sausage unlike many of the others does not contain wheat, so it is suitable for anyone allergic to gluten or wheat, particularly those with coeliac disease. But these sausages are relatively
high in saturated fat and salt.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: Very spicy — I had to have a glass of milk after each mouthful. But really tasty.
TESCO: FINEST BRITISH PORK & STILTON SAUSAGES
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Price: £2.59 (43p per sausage)
Pork content: 80pc
Contains (per uncooked sausage) 153 calories, 10.9g fat of which 4.3g saturates, 0.86g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Browned beautifully in the pan, with a nice even colour and tasty crunch on the outside.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT:
These contain both phosphates and sulphites, whereas other sausages
we tried managed to get by with one preservative.
Relatively low in calories. Although the Stilton bumps up the saturated fat content very slightly, this is overall a moderately healthy sausage.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: Who wants cheese in a sausage? It was really horrible.
THE PORKINSON BANGER
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Price: £2.47 (41p per sausage)
Pork content: 80pc British pork shoulder
Contains: (per grilled sausage)
160 calories, 11.3g fat of which 4.5g saturates, 1.1g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Filled with lovely herbs which season the finished sausage
perfectly. You can taste the salt but the cooked sausages have a lovely texture.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: Beware of the high salt content. Three of these sausages contain over half a teaspoon
of salt in total — the same salt content as eight 25g bags of Walker’s ready salted crisps.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: Really yummy. It did taste quite salty and herby, but I liked that.
COMPANY GREAT BIG SAUSAGES (OUR OVERALL WINNER)
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(Stocked in most branches of Waitrose)
Price: £2.59 (43p per sausage)
Pork content 85 pc
Contains: (per uncooked sausage) 112 calories, 7.5g fat of which 2.7g saturates, 0.7g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Crisps and caramelises in the pan, and browns beautifully. Slighly thinner than the other sausages, so cooks quickly, too.
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: These are great, because they contain up to a third less saturated fat than all of the other sausages we tested.
I was encouraged to see that this maker has reduced fat content simply by using lower-fat cuts of meat, rather than reducing the meat content and sticking in rusk. These sausages also score points for being gluten-free. The healthiest option of all.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: Really yummy and the crunchiest sausages. No horrible bits inside, but still really full of flavour.
PORKY WHITES SURREY PORK SAUSAGES
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(Selected branches of Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons)
Price: £2.45 (40p per sausage)
Pork content: 82pc
Contains: (per grilled sausage) 177calories, 12.0g fat of which 4.5g saturates, 1.0g salt
HOW THEY COOK: Cooks well in its own fatty juices, and is oozing with fat in every bite, which makes it tasty but not necessarily
healthy!
NUTRITIONIST’S VERDICT: This has a high salt content, and just two of these sausages will equal a third of your daily recommended salt intake. They are fairly high in calories, too — one sausage is almost the equivalent
of eating a Cadbury’s Flake bar.
ARCHIE’S VERDICT: It was juicy and chewy in a good way. The flavour was OK, but not as nice as the others.
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