Cumberland Sausages & juicy Burgers from Westin Gourmet - reviewed

A short while ago, Westin Gourmet - you may recall - sent us a pack of meat products to try.  Amongst the goodies were some of their Cumberland sausages and some very juicy looking 100% beef burgers.

The first of these that we put to the test were the Cumberland sausages.

Now I've got a pet peeve with sausages at the moment.  Very often it seems that flavour is forfeited for being "healthy".  Now the only thing I can deduce from this is that the majority of the flavour in a sausage, i.e. the "porky" flavour, comes from the fat.  It has to be.  So-called "healthy" sausages have the majority of their fat removed - and they are dry, tasteless and boring as all heck.  They also have a nasty hardness to them, quite unlike the soft, yielding, juicily porky mouthful of sausages of yore.

However, because (well, I assume this is the reason) of the public's predilection for "healthy" food (which is admirable, of course), even the good old sausage of yore has had its fat content reduced.  I hate this!  It has become almost impossible to find a sausage that tastes like a sausage should, or that even has the texture of a good old fashioned sausage.  A sausage, when bitten into, should burst in your mouth with a sudden rush of porky flavour carried on a small tide of meat juices, not be dry and chewy, or even worse taste like hot sawdust.

In my opinion, it is far better to have a good old unhealthy flavoursome sausage that you don't eat as often, than have one of these nasty dry old things and try eating them twice a week.  In fact, because of the parlous state of sausages these days, we've actually stopped eating them completely.

That is, until these Cumberlands hove into view from Westin Gourmet.  Hallelujah - a sausage that tastes like I remember sausages tasting when my Mum used to serve them up with a rich gravy, mashed potato and mixed vegetables, way back in the seventies.  They are soft, flavoursome and porky with that lovely "crack" of a crispy skin and the mouthwatering onrush of peppery flavour.

At £7.23 for 24 sausages - which equates to around £2.41 for a pack of 8, they aren't devastatingly expensive either.  Long may it continue, Westin Gourmet - you're onto a winner!

Thanks to the success of the sausages, we were by now fairly hopeful about the burgers.

The price made our eyes water a little at £36.53 for 10 x 4oz burgers, which equates to around £3.65 per burger.  I reckoned that at that price, they had to be good.   Because of the way in which they are packaged, however, they start off life not looking so good at all.  They appear grey and unappealing - that is until you tear back the covering and let some air into them.  Very quickly they plump up and return back to the very appealing lush red that a good burger should be.

Cheered by that, we placed them on the grill (it was raining again - so we ate them indoors) and set to with the cooking.  Each burger was very definitely a good size, so we were watching closely to see if they shrank significantly during the cooking process.  Never has a humble burger been more observed.

Because of the beef content, we were happy to leave the burgers a little pink (not bloody, just a little blush of pink) in the middle, for added flavour and juiciness.  My goodness, but these burgers are great!

I'm not sure I'd be able to afford to buy enough to supply a whole barbecue for friends, but as a special barbecue for the family they are just perfect.

The flavour is just wonderful, as the beef is 100% steak mince that caramelises beautifully and gives that genuine burger flavour.  There are no great hunks of onion to otherwise spoil the flavour and the seasoning is harmonious and unobtrusive.  The shrinkage is minimal and for all that they reduced in circumference, they seemed to gain in depth!  Put into a normal sized burger bun, they did the job beautifully.

We treated the burgers absolutely classically, with a small amount of lettuce, some tomato and a good helping of cheese, along with some French's hotdog mustard and a great tomato relish.  Oh boy, but they were good.

As a "special" burger for a special occasion, I'd very definitely come back for more.

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Pork Ballotine for New Year's Day

Considering how terribly, terribly wrong this could all have gone, it actually went extremely well.

The plan was to make a Pork Ballotine - which was to be a pork fillet, halved and pounded flat then filled with a stuffing mixture and strips of chicken breast, then rolled, wrapped tightly in cling film and cooked for 3 hrs in the slow cooker, sous vide style.

I can't see any room within that description for it to go wrong, can you?  ~rolls eyes~  

The pork could have refused to flatten out (it didn't), the stuffing mixture could have been pallid and uninteresting (it wasn't) or over-seasoned and over-flavoured (it wasn't).  The cling film could have let go and allowed the water to penetrate the meat (the top layer allowed water in, but the second layer resisted the temptation) and the cooking could have been too long (it wasn't) or too short (it wasn't that, either).  All things considered, it was a triumphant combination of both skill and luck.

So, to give you an idea of the whole dish, it was the Pork Ballotine accompanied by an Ottolenghi recipe for Parsnip & Sweet Potato Roast, along with baby courgettes and baby aubergines.  I wasn't sure whether we'd need a gravy, as the roast vegetables included a lemon dressing.  However, the gravy was definitely a good thing because the Ballotine was fat-free apart from the sausage meat & olive oil that went into the stuffing and it needed that sauciness.  Even after 3 hours' cooking, it wasn't dry - but the dish definitely needed something saucy to help the jaws go around.

I can safely say that the Ballotine was by far and away the most advanced culinary task I've had to produce yet.  I had no idea that it would take as long as it did to produce - I seemed to be sitting there for aeons, trimming meat, making stuffing, trimming up the chicken into slices, stuffing, rolling and wrapping.

I made four individual Ballotines, which gave us one to have cold (another useful and successful experiment) later on.

Pork tenderloin prior to trimming

I had every intention (I even had the camera beside me) of photographing the process of producing the Ballotines, but I am afraid I got so "into" the process that I completely forgot to take photographs.  Sorry!


So to talk you through the process of making four Ballotines, I need to start with a large slow cooker (or I suppose an enormous stock pot in the oven would do the same thing), filled three quarters of the way with hot water and pre-heated to medium (approx 65-70deg C).  I tested mine with a meat thermometer before adding the Ballotines, just to reassure myself that it was hot enough.

Take two pork fillets (or tenderloins) which require to be trimmed of gristle.  Then nip off either end, to create a neat edge.  Retain the nipped off ends, as they can be included in the stuffing mix.  Next, cut each fillet into half, which will leave you with four fat sausage shapes of meat and set aside while you make the stuffing.

I based my stuffing mix around two top quality Cumberland sausages, which I skinned and used the meat from.  However, because the sausage meat is already ground you don't want to include it with the ingredients for the stuffing that are going to require chopping in a food processor, so simply place the sausage meat into a bowl with an egg yolk.

Then, to the food processor, I added the ends of the pork, a chopped onion that I had sauteed in butter and allowed to cool, two tablespoons of pine nuts, six prunes, a half a teaspoon of dried sage, a teaspoonful of dried thyme, a handful of fresh parsley, a dessertspoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt and a whole heap of freshly ground black pepper.  In retrospect, I think I'd probably have added a clove of garlic to the mixture, too.  Blitz until you have a fairly smooth, sticky paste and decant into the bowl with the sausage meat and egg.  Give the whole lot a good mix to combine it well and set aside. 


Turning our attention back to the meat, the next thing is to cut a slice through the long side of the meat bi-secting it three-quarters of the way, but not cutting through the other side. Lay the meat down - opened out - onto a piece of cling film, cut side down, and lay another piece of cling film over the top.  Take a rolling pin or other blunt heavy instrument and gently but firmly pound the meat until it is as thin as you dare.   Take care, initially, with hitting it where the join is or you'll split the two pieces - and that way leads to an exploding Ballotine, which isn't good!

You can see the three pieces of chicken, surrounded by stuffing

Once the meat is pounded thin, strip off the top layer of cling film and take an eighth of the stuffing mix.  Place this in a wide strip across the centre of the short side of the meat.  The Ballotine is going to be quite fat, so you'll need the extra length to roll it successfully.

Next, cut three long strips of meat from a chicken breast and lay two along the top of the stuffing strip.

Take another eighth of stuffing and form into a long sausage shape, which gets laid in between the two strips of chicken and smoothed to cover them.  Place the third strip of chicken on top.

Pick up one of the free sides and flap it over the stuffing, then begin to roll towards the remaining free side, shaping into an even but fat, cigar-shape as you go.

Once rolled, pick up the cling film edge that it is sitting on and roll the Ballotine up until it is tightly held by the cling film.  Twist both ends, then sit the Ballotine on one end and gently tighten the other.  This will force the meat down the tube of cling film and create a neat edge.  Tighten the uppermost twist and then re-wrap in another piece of cling film so that you have two layers of waterproofing.  If you want to be even more sure of it, wrap it a third time.

There you are - one Pork Ballotine.  Now all you've got to do is repeat that again three times and you'll have lost a good couple of hours, but have four fat sausages.

The only thing left to do now, is to say whichever prayer you think suits the moment and place your prize Ballotines into the slow cooker bath - which, just for today, we'll upgrade to a Sous Vide Immersion Thermostatically Controlled Device.  There, don't you feel swanky?

Now run away and hide until you have to look at them again - which, for me, was within a half an hour when hubby helpfully commented "your Ballotines have exploded a bit!".  It turned out that the top layer of cling film had ballooned somewhat through not being rolled tightly enough - but all was thankfully still waterproof under that.

At the end of some three hours' cooking (which is probably all you've got left, by the time you've made the darned things!), remove them from the slow cooker and peel off their cling film, watching out for the cooking juices which will be hot and all too ready to jet out at random angles, preferably all down your front.

Heat a good knob of butter and a glug of olive oil in a frying pan and brown the outside of each Ballotine, before leaving them for 10-15 minutes to rest.

Having done this procedure, what came out of the cling film looking fairly unappetising, miraculously turns into something that looks blinking lovely.

Slice carefully into three and serve with your choice of accompanying vegetables.  You'll be jolly glad you made these - but I can tell you that it'll be a long old time before you find me making them again!  Not because of any hesitation over their flavour or texture - all of which were divine - but because the day spent tending to them in the kitchen very nearly wiped me out for the next two days.  I'd very definitely make these again - but I'll have to be a whole lot less disabled before I do so!


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Mid-week dinner idea : Sausages with Creamy Lentils

I know, the idea of cream and lentils doesn't always sound quite right, but here that isn't a concern due to the overall consistency being so light, the cream sits really nicely.

We had this for dinner (our evening meal - some call it "supper", lol) following on from Christmas but it didn't get blogged then.  I made a note that it scored a good 9 out of 10 and we'd voted to have it again - and to blog it then, so here we are.

The original recipe was just onion, carrot and celery with lentils which I thought was a wee bit light on the veggie front so have included peas and broad beans.  It seemed a shame to have to cook another vegetable separately, when you had so many going on in the lovely sauce.  The peas and broad beans combine very comfortably with the bacon and the cream, resulting in lovely flavours from two pans.  Perfect for a mid-week meal when you want to keep both preparation and washing-up to a minimum.

It's a complete mountain of food, I know.
Hubby did the plating up - and was a bit on the generous side!

SAUSAGES WITH CREAMY LENTILS  (feeds 3)

  

Ingredients :

8 good quality pork sausages (I used Cumberland)

1 onion, chopped fine

2 carrots, peeled & chopped fine

1 celery stick, de-stringed and chopped fine

2 tbsp olive oil

2 rashers streaky bacon, diced small

pinch of dried thyme

200ml hot vegetable or chicken stock

a shake or two of Worcestershire Sauce

400g tin green lentils, drained

a handful of frozen peas

a handful of frozen broad beans (or fresh!)

4 tbsp double cream.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C, then put the sausages onto a roasting tin and bake for some 20-25 mins or until golden and cooked through.

2.  Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok.  Fry the bacon for 2-3 minutes or until the fat has rendered.

3.  Then add the onion, carrots, celery & thyme and continue cooking until they are softened and begin to brown – around 8-10 minutes.

4.  Pour in the stock and Worcestershire sauce and simmer until the carrots are tender.  Add the lentils, peas and broad beans and continue to simmer until heated through.

5.  Add the cream, stir and taste.  Add seasoning.

6.  Add the sausages and give them around 3-4 minutes in the simmering sauce, before serving with mashed potato.

Printable version.

Cumberland & Black Pudding, Sausage Rolls

Ever since Christmas, when we had some frozen cocktail sized sausage rolls that were completely ghastly and about as removed from a sausage roll as it was possible to get, I've been craving "proper" sausage rolls.

Now, I made some sausage rolls around 5 or 6 years ago which were treated with such derision by the family, that I've never tried again.  True, it may have had something to do with the pastry - as my pastry has, historically, been random in its results - and I prefer shortcrust, whereas hubby prefers puff.  Either way, it resulted in my resolving to never try to make the blooming things again.

However, my yearning for a sausage roll that actually contains sausagemeat instead of moist cardboard has turned the tide and in the spirit of compromise, I made some - using shop bought puff pastry.

The next problem was the sausage meat - what sort of sausage would hubby prefer?  I was determined not to fail, you see.  After some negotiation, we were agreed on some of Spring Fields Cumberland sausages, stripped of their skins and (as a final flourish from hubby's imagination) with a little black pudding crumbled in.

Gosh, but they were good.  We had them for tea last night and they were just the job - and again for lunch today.  There's still four or five left, so we're sorted for another lunch too.  Not bad value, considering the whole lot probably cost £5 (ingredients, not counting the cost of baking them) and you certainly wouldn't find sausage rolls of this quality in the supermarket.

CUMBERLAND & BLACK PUDDING SAUSAGE ROLLS  (makes 12 rolls)

Ingredients :

8 chunky Cumberland sausages, skins removed
50-100g black pudding
Ready-rolled puff pastry
an egg

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C.  Lay out the pastry and roll it gently to flatten and reduce the thickness, taking care to maintain the rectangular shape.

2.  Divide each piece into two rectangular halves.

3.  Along each half, place the sausage meat in an even roll - stretching it to thin it out a little, if you're lucky enough to have really chunky sausages.

4. Slice enough black pudding (to taste : I used around 75g) and chop it into small pieces.  Sprinkle a quarter along the sausage meat, pressing it in slightly.

5.  Break the egg into a cup and whisk lightly.  Then, brush a little onto the clear side of the pastry.

6.  Roll the pastry with the sausage meat on it, towards the egg washed side, taking care to roll in a straight line, so that both sides meet - preferably with a little overlap.

7.  Sit the roll down on to the join and press lightly to secure it.

8.  Cut the roll into three and place each roll onto a non-stick baking sheet.

9.  Once all are assembled, egg wash each roll and place into the oven to bake for some 25-30 minutes, or until golden and crispy.

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