Chitterlings Sausages

Now these are interesting….
These are French, also known as Andouillette Sausages.   They made of pork, filled with…..large intestine and stomach, oh and some herbs and stuff (salt and pepper).
The recipe dates back to the middle ages.  Some people say that traditionally you also use the pigs colon as well, gives the sausages a distinctive smell.

So, cooked them up and tried them.

The texture was interesting.   It looked as though the sausage was full of tiny little white rings (diced intestine) but it was much more pleasant to eat than expected.  The sausage was tasty, with a strong herb like flavour, and an under tone of a slightly sour pork like flavour from the meat.  Overall, hard to explain, and the taste was ok.  That said, I won’t be having another in a hurry.

Overall, they get a 5 out of 10, but I think they were very good for the type of sausage they were, but its an acquired taste!

Link

Sausages and Seaweed

Want a taste of the sea…..then these sausages with seaweed will do just that.  Haven’t tried them but they sound pretty interesting….

Butifarra Fresca Sausages

These are Catalan Sausages, and after the first experience with Spanish sausages being positive, I decided to try these as well.

These are a mixture of pork mince, with Pancetta, with water, salt, sugar, and more of those vegetable fibres.  They smelled great, before they even hit the pan – and I was hoping for another Toulouse Sausage experience.

The first bite was really positive – the sausage was very juicy (surprising so – maybe it was all the water that was added in) and taste of pork with the Pancetta came through.  But there the balance of these sausages started to go wrong.  There was way too much salt, which on initially tasting was very positive, when it came to eating the whole sausage the overall build up in the pallet was wrong.  Just a bit too salty…

Overall, despite the salt balance the overall sausage was still pretty good.  Its getting a 6 out of 10

Carniolan Sausage

This is a Slovenian culinary speciality that can only be made by just 11 Slovene producers.

Its made of pork mince and bacon, little salt, garlic and pepper, and the sausage is held together with a wooden skewer.

It was precooked, but the texture was taut, crunchy with a smokey Flavour.

For me it was a little too dry, but the flavour was very good. These get a 7.5 out of ten

Croatia Skinless Sausages

Now these are a little different.  They are skinless sausages from Croatia.

Croatia is famed for its pork so I was hoping for good things from these.  They were a little difficult to separate out and I was worried about breakup when cooking as they are skinless.  Unwrapped, they smelled really good, and you can see the minced pork was nice and chunky and there seemed to be a good level of fat in them.

On hitting the frying pan the smell continued and got better….the fat content was good, very little oil was required to cook these, actually by the time these had finished cooking there could have been a little too much fat left in the pan.  As they were skinless it was interesting how they turned white (the colour of cooked pork) before turning to a golden brown colour.

On tasting they delivered.  Very porky and quite salty.  The lack of skin didn’t hold them back – the texture was good, great consistency and melt in the mouth.  They didn’t have the most complex of flavours happening, pork and salt, but the pork was of a very high standard.

By the end of the meal the salt was starting to build in the mouth and you didn’t really feel like another sausage.  Overall a little too simple and salty, these are getting a 6 rating (mainly as the quality of the pork mince used was really good!)

Spanish Sausages

Bull fighting, football – two things we know the Spanish can do – but can they make a decent sausage?
Well these sausages are a mixture of 54% pork, and then a mix of other meats (34%), salt, spices and two really interesting ingredients.  They like to add vegetable fibres (gives you something to bite into!) and almond flour.  Very interesting.

Did it work?   Well the sausage had a great texture, and held its moisture well, it was a little fatty while cooking.  The spices were well balanced and delivered an excellent flavour in the mouth – the meat melted in the mouth, and the there was enough saltiness to make you want to take another bite.  These were really good sausages.

How did they rate – these are getting an 8 out 10 – its safe to have sausage in Spain…..

Sausages from Andorra

Andorra has mountains, valleys, and beautiful scenery, but from my experience their sausages are not their strongest point.

They love paprika – but they like it a little too much – these were completely over powered by the spice and so it makes it very hard to comment on the over flavour – and therefore a very short review….

I give these 2 out of 10 – way to much spice…..sorry Andorra!

The Chinese Want Some English Sausage!

Devro seeks to open a factory in China

 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9decee6-dcd5-11e2-b52b-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2XDVm8bFb

Devro, the sausage skin maker, is aiming to open a factory in China in the next few years to take advantage of rising demand for western-style sausages in the country.

Chief executive Peter Page forecasted that rising demand in China for meat products, such as sausages, will double the market for the collagen cases that Devro manufactures during the next decade, leaving Devro with no choice but to look eastward.

Pork and Duck Sausage

Now these are very nice….very different but very nice.  These are Pork and Duck Sausages from Gers, in France, famous for their duck.  These were made from a farm in on a track at the end of a winding country lane – from Mana’s special recipe.  Now the secret here is that duck sausage alone doesn’t work.  It needs the pork mince to help bind the sausage together and give it the overall texture thats expected.

The recipe is very simple, 50% pork, 50% duck, salt and pepper to season.  That is it.

This is a sausage to rival the Toulouse Sausage – but very different.  The duck really comes through in this sausage, there is no mistaking the duck, but its edged with the saltyness of the pork, and the texture it brings makes this a really good sausage, if not in the tradtional sense.  Great balance of flavours, perfect seasoning, and the duck just giving it that something diffferent.

So how does it rate – well its a 9 out of 10, as good as the Toulouse, if not in a very different way.  If you like duck, then this is the sausage fo you!

Andoria sausages are next on the meun

Toulouse Sausage

What a banger!!  I was recently asked why the last sausage that was reviewed on got a 6.5 – well it was because I knew this was coming…

Now for those of you who don’t know what a Toulouse sausage is, its the a wonderful concoction of meat, wine and spices, and they make in one long sausage that gets rolled up (bit like a Cumberland – and you just cut off what you want).

These contain a pork belly and shoulder mix, with white wine, salt, white pepper, nutmeg, garlic,  and sugar….and what a mix it is, great spice and flavours in the mouth, the right amount of moisture, and juicy flavours from the meat.   Everything perfectly balanced.

Clearly – they are getting a great score – 9 out of 10.  The benchmark has been set Europe.

Look for the French duck sausage review coming next….