London’s Best Banger results are in…

We were thrilled to have recently been involved with London’s best local sausage competition, hosted by Jellied Eel Magazine. It was a top event that really does highlight just how many London butchers and producers are hard at work across the capital. Now, the results are in. Here’s the press release from Jellied Eel:

Over the past three months, The Jellied Eel magazine, together with London Farmers’ Markets, has once again been asking Londoners to vote for their favourite local sausage. Choosing from over 20 sausages using meat reared within 100 miles of London, the top ten voted for by the public went before an expert judging panel. They voted Flock and Herd’s Classic Pork sausage the best, and Highly Commended were Galileo Farm’s Pork Sausage and Happy Herefords’ Happy Hooligan Sausage.

Food writer Rebecca Seal, who helped to judge the competition, welcomed both the quality and the range on offer: “Ten years ago, sausages were all just anemic pink things. It’s great to see people doing traditional sausages and also experimenting.”

Cheryl Cohen of London Farmers’ Markets said: “There’s been a real sausage revival and they’re a popular item at our farmers’ markets,” adding “the purpose of the sausage competition is to highlight a product which sometimes we take for granted.”

Jellied Eel editor Ben Reynolds agreed it has been a great way to celebrate sausages: “The sausage is an emblem of the diversity you can get in just one type of product which is sold all over London. For this year’s competition we felt it was important to widen it out to include butchers using local meat as well as farmers’ market producers.”

In the judging, which took place at Little Portland Street’s Cookery School, the judges based their decision on taste, texture, appearance, the number of public votes and the story behind the sausage. In the winner’s case, they use Blythburgh free-range pork.

Charlie Shaw of Flock and Herd commented: “We always use natural casings, though they’re not cheap. We butcher the pork here, use cuts like belly and shoulder, mince it, add the ingredients, mince it again and fill the casings. There’s a bit of fat in the mix to keep it nice and moist.”

Responding to the news his sausage had triumphed Charlie added:

“I’m absolutely delighted to win, particularly as I entered a traditional London sausage, which is a plain sausage, and they say you can tell the quality of a butcher if their plain sausage is good.”

Category
Ingredients We Love