Harrington's Pork and Fennel

Harrington’s Pork and Fennel

I was at New World in Thorndon this morning and thought I would make shepherd’s pie for dinner. However you do need a little aperitif so I brought a tray of Harrington’s Pork and Fennel sausages. These are made in Miramar on the other side of Wellington. They are a small chunky sausage to view, regular in diameter but shorter in length. They looked good. The package said they were made from fresh NZ pork, white wine, fennel seeds, pepper and few preservatives.

 

 

When I buy pork at the supermarket I always check to ensure that it is NZ pork. If you go to the Pork Industries website you can see that NZ imports pork from a wide number of countries. While the largest country of origin is the USA, 23% of the pork comes from Finland. I found this a little odd, pigs running around in the snow and saunas? Or more probably factory farmed? I would encourage readers to buy NZ pork, and to support the local industry and our farmers.

Anyway, back to the sausages. They were cooked in a pan while the shepherd’s pie was in the oven. They cooked nicely and were pleasant on the palate. The fennel seeds have been ground so there are not whole seeds in the sausage. On the continuum of pork and fennel sausages these have a slight hint of fennel as opposed to being strongly fennel flavoured. I have reviewed the Island Bay Butchery, link, and Harmony, link, pork and fennel sausages. I would describe these are being on par with, or maybe a bit less fennel flavour than the Harmony sausages. They are a meaty sausage that is dense and enjoyable to chew.

 

 

The kids and my wife both enjoyed the sausages and said they were nice. I enjoyed these and would buy them again.

Cost per kilo: $18.99

Veal Bratwurst

Veal Bratwurst

When I was at Island Bay Butchery recently I picked up some veal bratwurst. Veal is not a meat that I generally eat. To be honest I cannot remember when I last ate veal, or if I have eaten veal in the last few decades, it is not something that is part of our household’s diet. So any comments about the veal flavour need to read with this in mind.

 

 

These sausages were cooked up and the kids wanted to sample them. I ate one and then had another later on, and when I looked back to the plate there was about a quarter of a sausage left. Clearly the sausages where enjoyed by the whanau.

The butcher said they are good as a breakfast sausage. Well the problem was I cooked them later in the day so there were none left for dinner, let alone having some left to consume for breakfast.

 

These are very pleasant sausages that are different in flavour to nearly all the sausages I have reviewed on this blog. I assume the flavour of the veal is revealed in the taste of the sausage. It is very nice, delicate and tantalising on the palate. They are a finely ground sausage.

These are a very nice sausage that I would buy again. They are different to your average pork or beef banger, subtle to taste and not on the spicy spectrum. The kids liked them, always a good sign.

Cost per kilo: $17.95

 

And the camera is inconsistent, I have images of the cooked suasages, the blog tells me there is an error in uploading. Errrrr!

Pure Beef Sausage

Pure Beef Sausages

I was at the Island Bay Butchers earlier this week and purchased this new product. Took them home and cooked them for tea. They were served with oven roasted cauliflower, leeks and blue cheese. We also had baby peas.

 

 

As the butcher said, it is all beef banger, including the casing. It is also gluten free. But the big question is - what does it taste like? It is good, very dense and gives the mandibles a good work out. It is a pleasant meaty sausage that lets the meat give the flavour. In comparison to other meat sausages I have reviewed this is ok, without being great. I would buy this sausage again.

 

The other dishes that accompanied the sausages were a roasted leek and cauliflower with blue cheese. This is a very pleasant dish which all the family really enjoys. See the link for the recipe. This was also served with some baby peas, courtesy of Mr Wattie. What would a family do without Mr Wattie?

Cost per kilo: $17.95

Pork Bratwurst from Kerikeri

Pork Bratwurst from Kerikeri

This sausage was purchased from Churchill’s Butchers in Kerikeri while we were in the far north a few months ago. They came out of the freezer and were cooked recently. These are a pleasant sausage, with a nice meaty taste. There are signs of a herb flavouring that slightly adds to the piquant of the sausage. We also had some of Churchill’s black pudding, this is available for On Trays in Petone. See review.

 

If I lived in the far north I would buy these again. They are a run of the mill, better than average sausage. However compared with Park Ave’s Dutch braadwurst it is inferior. If you are looking for a great quality, reasonably priced meaty sausage in Wellington my view is you can not go past Park Avenue Quality Meat’s Dutch braadwurst. See the review of 9 January 2013.

 

For what ever reason the photos of the cooked suasages do not want to up load, so sorry no photo.

 

Cost per kilo: $16.95

 

And for those for read my blog regularly, we did get through the 6.5 earthquake, it was biggest quake I have experienced in my life, I am very pleased the epicentre was 70km away from Wellington. However we did lose a lamp that fell off the piano, books came off the bookcases too. However we were all fine, and he sausage stash in the freezer was untouched.