Sausage Tasting with Woodhouse Farm, Leicestershire

Before I lived in Midlands, I didn't really know what it was like to enjoy sausages. I just thought they weren't for me. They were big, gristly, tasteless things - often deepfried in pubs - that never excited me much.

That is, until I began wandering around Birmingham Farmer's Market and my partner and his family introduced me to Woodhouse Farm. A longstanding family favourite, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now, just the thought of a Woodhouse Farm sausage sandwich makes me salivate and once it's entered my mind, nothing else will do. Call me converted; these sausages are the best thing that have ever happened to my mouth.

After taking a look at the extensive list of products Woodhouse Farm had, I jumped at the chance to do an official sausage tasting with Kitchen Table Projects. I knew I loved Woodhouse Farm, but what would everyone else think?

We sampled six different types of sausage, with sparkling water and buttery mash to cleanse the palate (Classy!) Our six independent, discerning taste testers came from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from barbecue fanatic to haematology scientist. Sausages were roasted and given marks out of 10 and we discussed how each one might work best. Here's what we found:

 

Toulouse 3/10

Last in line came the Toulouse sausage, a gluten free, garlicky number. We reckon it was our oven that got things wrong, having hastily squashed them together in the corner of our roasting tin and we really don't think we did them justice. Conclusion: we'll just have to order more...

Wincotts Winter Warmers 6/10

Filled with naga chillies, we armed ourselves with a full glass of iced sparkling water before jumping in. PHWOAR is all we can say! While almost too spicy to have on their own, our tasters thought these Winter Warmers would be a fantastic addition to an all day breakfast sandwich, a fiery stew or - as we later found out - served cold, thinly sliced with a couple of beers. With a smoother texture that held well when cut, we could see these going down a storm as nibbles on an autumn evening with friends. One of our tasters even revised her score from 5/10 to 7/10 after trying them cold, which just goes to show that there are so many factors at play with a good sausage.

 

Suffolk Orchard 7/10

Sweet and robust with a hint of cider, this sausage reminded one of our tasters of Cantonese Lap Cheong, or dry cured smoked sweet sausage. While I'm not sure I completely agree, there was an unmistakable tang that I loved which would have gone perfectly with a crumble of blue cheese on hot sourdough.

Tamworth 7/10

While my tasters might say different, this was definitely my favourite. This sausage comes from the rare Tamworth pig. There's something that happens *only* to Woodhouse Farm sausages when they're roasted, which I like to call 'The Sticky Goodness'. The Tamworth sausage was positively drenched in this syrupy umami layer of gorgeousness, glinting in the light and drawing me in. The Tamworth pig is able to achieve a high body mass without much of a build up of actual fat, which I'm guessing is the driving force behind The Sticky Goodness. My tasters agreed - there was definitely something special going on here, except a few did find it a little too salty for their liking.

Mexican Grill 8/10

One taster described this sausage as 'the juicy, interesting one that made her feel greedy' and I can't agree more. With just the right level of heat, this sausage can be used in a variety of settings, whether simply butterflied and sandwiched between two slices of bread or accompanying huevos rancheros with a dollop of guacamole. Ole!

Pork & Red Onion Marmalade 8.5/10

Call me crazy, but I detected a definite undercurrent of ginger here. None of my tasters did though! Sweet and flavourful, this won the hearts and tums of my tasters with its balanced flavour between meat and marmalade, which can be difficult to get just right. We liked this one so much, there was a little squabble at the end about who had more right to have seconds!

Stay tuned for more tastings as we compile our menu! If you know of something amazing that needs to be shouted about, drop us an email or a tweet and we'll get tasting!