Butchers sausages - meat content

stmol32

I aplogise because I know there was a thread almost like this but it's 6 months old and I wasn't sure about resurrecting an old thread.

My question is, are sausages from the butchers, or supermarket butcher counter 100% meat?

I always look at the meat content of sausages in the supermarket and even the best (Olhausens etc.) have about 65% at best.

The butchers sausages are generally more expensive but unlabelled so does that mean they have more meat content?

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

Ask the butcher, he probably made them himself so he should know.

I think sausages, kinda like burgers, need a certain amount of fat in order to be juicy and delicious.

Think about 20-25% fat content is the ideal.

If they had no fat your piece of meat would dry out too much during the cooking process.

Faith

Yeah, a 100% meat sausage would actually not be very nice. A good sausage would usually have maybe 60-80% pork with plenty of fat, seasonings, spices and filler (some kind of carb) for moisture and flavour.

rubadub

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

I think sausages, kinda like burgers, need a certain amount of fat in order to be juicy and delicious.

Think about 20-25% fat content is the ideal.

True, but the OP is talking about meat content, not % lean meat content, fat would be included in the 65% meat content listed the likes of the Olhausens. I think he is more concerned about the use of cheap fillers to bulk out cheapo ones.

Here are denny gold medal

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=280966269

Ingredients

Pork (60%),Water ,Rusk (Wheat Flour, Salt) ,Starch (Wheat) ,Pork Fat ,Pork Rind ,Salt ,Yeast Extract ,Stabiliser (Sodium Triphosphate) ,Dextrose ,Flavour Enhancer (Monosodium Glutamate) ,Spices ,Preservative (Sodium Metabisulphite) ,Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid) ,Colour (Carmine) ,Maltodextrin ,Beef Casings ,May contains traces of Mustard and Soya

So the pork is 60%, this would have fat included. Later on they also list that they add additional pork fat. This might lead people to think the original 60% was lean meat.

It would depend on what butcher you go so, I have seen some advertise meat content. Many of the more expensive ones in supermarkets are quite high meat content, I actually prefer the meat content of ~65%, Olhausen would be my favourites.

Dickerty

Superquinns are 80% pork, and 29g of fat per 100g, which explains why they taste so good!
But they also contain MSG I believe?

So basically - 80% is good if the other 20% is spices, a small amount of salt, and some stabilisers (yeast, starch)...

rubadub

Dickerty wrote: »

But they also contain MSG I believe?

They do, also it can go under many other names.

http://www.fxbuckleybutchers.ie/pork-sausages.html?___SID=U

FX Buckley are renounced for their famous pork sausages which we have been making since 1930 and are extremely popular with customers. We have won numerous National rewards our authentic sausages. What makes FX Buckley sausages different?
• All our sausages are made fresh every morning
• Only fresh cuts of Irish pork go into our traditional sausage recipe.
• Only natural sausage casing used
• 83% meat content with natural seasonings
• Hand linked by our master butchers to ensure the highest quality.

Boskowski

One thing I'm quite sure of. If you ever got to see with your own eyes what they're made of you wouldn't ever eat a sausage again.

CJhaughey

Yep make your own, you will quickly find that belly pork is essential to a nice sausage, otherwise they are as dry as a bone.

Tefral

Boskowski wrote: »

One thing I'm quite sure of. If you ever got to see with your own eyes what they're made of you wouldn't ever eat a sausage again.

Sweepings of the butchers floor is what was described to me once.

I told them stop talking as I want to live in blissful ignorance.

Sure if you ever put them in the george foreman or when BBQ'ing them, that should tell you all you need to know about how healthy they are

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

rubadub wrote: »

True, but the OP is talking about meat content, not % lean meat content, fat would be included in the 65% meat content listed the likes of the Olhausens. I think he is more concerned about the use of cheap fillers to bulk out cheapo ones.

Here are denny gold medal

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=280966269



So the pork is 60%, this would have fat included. Later on they also list that they add additional pork fat. This might lead people to think the original 60% was lean meat.

It would depend on what butcher you go so, I have seen some advertise meat content. Many of the more expensive ones in supermarkets are quite high meat content, I actually prefer the meat content of ~65%, Olhausen would be my favourites.

One thing I know is whoever gave Denny a 'gold' medal for their sausages must have been smoking crack, and hadn't eaten anything for a month before reaching their decision to give them that award. :pac:

Dont be at yourself

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

One thing I know is whoever gave Denny a 'gold' medal for their sausages must have been smoking crack, and hadn't eaten anything for a month before reaching their decision to give them that award. :pac:

I think the test conditions consisted of going for a skin full of pints and arriving home to a fridge empty save for a pack of Denny's.

Lucena

Boskowski wrote: »

One thing I'm quite sure of. If you ever got to see with your own eyes what they're made of you wouldn't ever eat a sausage again.

Do you have some insider information? From mass-produced sausages or butcher sausages?

the_syco

Like the Lidl or Aldi 80% pork sausages myself. Just had the steak and black pepper sausage at lunch. I blame this thread for that lovely idea :P

ElleEm

Kearns' are 70% as far as I know, and are a good second place to Superquinn!

bmm

Clonakilty ! Yum!

Alun

the_syco wrote: »

Like the Lidl or Aldi 80% pork sausages myself. Just had the steak and black pepper sausage at lunch. I blame this thread for that lovely idea :P

The Lidl 'flavoured' ones are great, but I wish they'd try and revert their plain pork sausages back to the way they were before the previous supplier went bust. The new ones are OK flavour wise, but they're a bit too skinny for my liking and have a weird skin on them.

rubadub

Alun wrote: »

weird skin on them.

The skin is very important for me. I don't like any tesco skins I tired, including several of the "finest" range ones, large, medium cocktail size. They are just tough or something, I think at one time they were good.

This is why I like olhausen, the skins are amazing, like I remember old superquinn ones, you could press down on a sausage with the tip of a finger and almost be able to pick it up since they are so sticky.

Lissavane

rubadub wrote: »

They do, also it can go under many other names.

http://www.fxbuckleybutchers.ie/pork-sausages.html?___SID=U

"Quote:
FX Buckley are renounced for their famous pork sausages which we have been making since 1930 and are extremely popular with customers. We have won numerous National rewards our authentic sausages. What makes FX Buckley sausages different?
• All our sausages are made fresh every morning
• Only fresh cuts of Irish pork go into our traditional sausage recipe.
• Only natural sausage casing used
• 83% meat content with natural seasonings
• Hand linked by our master butchers to ensure the highest quality."

I love it - probably one of the best malapropisms ever recorded. Maybe drafted by a disgruntled member of staff!

Alun

Lissavane wrote: »

I love it - probably one of the best malapropisms ever recorded. Maybe drafted by a disgruntled member of staff!

Probably just sloppy (or non-existent) proofreading. 'Rewards' should be 'awards' too.

CJhaughey

rubadub wrote: »

The skin is very important for me. I don't like any tesco skins I tired, including several of the "finest" range ones, large, medium cocktail size. They are just tough or something, I think at one time they were good.

This is why I like olhausen, the skins are amazing, like I remember old superquinn ones, you could press down on a sausage with the tip of a finger and almost be able to pick it up since they are so sticky.

Natural casings vs Collagen casings, natural are so much nicer than collagen.
I won't eat collagen casings since I made my own as they change the way the sausage cooks and tastes.

suicide_circus

Who makes the sausages, rashers, pudding you get in an average spar/centra/londis type breakfast roll? Bloody shiite quality. Dennys and Galtee are absolute muck as well.

Oregano_State

Dickerty wrote: »

Superquinns are 80% pork, and 29g of fat per 100g, which explains why they taste so good!
But they also contain MSG I believe?

So basically - 80% is good if the other 20% is spices, a small amount of salt, and some stabilisers (yeast, starch)...

There's a lot of fear-mongering out there about MSG,. It's just as healthy as table salt, i.e, perfectly fine as long as you're not going overboard on your sodium intake.

Lucena

suicide_circus wrote: »

Who makes the sausages, rashers, pudding you get in an average spar/centra/londis type breakfast roll? Bloody shiite quality. Dennys and Galtee are absolute muck as well.

Of course they're sh1te quality, people aren't too fussed about what's in them, so there's no point in putting in top-quality leek and sage butcher sausages when Paddy Mucksavage just wants his salt and calorie fix.

pwurple

Boskowski wrote: »

One thing I'm quite sure of. If you ever got to see with your own eyes what they're made of you wouldn't ever eat a sausage again.

Some of them, but there are butchers around who let you watch them being made. I have a meat grinder and stuffer, have made my own. Been to the local butchers to watch it being done too. Sausages are awesome!

stmol32

the_syco wrote: »

Like the Lidl or Aldi 80% pork sausages myself. Just had the steak and black pepper sausage at lunch. I blame this thread for that lovely idea :P

You're very welcome!

Cheers for the replies folks... I learnded lots.

amklo

Boskowski wrote: »

One thing I'm quite sure of. If you ever got to see with your own eyes what they're made of you wouldn't ever eat a sausage again.

Actually from talking to a guy I know who worked in a pig\pork processing plant, he said seeing what sausages are made of is actually ok....but the processed ham is another story!