Friday 27 April 2012

Guest Review - Elspeth Velten - Whole Foods Pork Irish Style Bangers


I recently went to Whole Foods in search of English sausage to make bangers and mash. Do you know Whole Foods? It is a natural and organic grocery store over here in the US. I know there are a few locations over in London, but nothing close to the size and selection we have over here. They had a great selection of sausage, but most of them are Italian or with add-ins such as spinach, feta, artichoke, roasted red pepper, etc.


I found only this package of "Pork Irish Style Bangers." It's funny how anything remotely English in the US is marketed as being Irish. The sausages were 8 in a pack for a little less than $7. We lined these babies up on a pan and threw them in the oven at 400 degrees F. They cooked fully and had a nice dark color after about 40 minutes and a few turn-overs here and there. They plumped up width-wise but did shrink down a bit in length.



Upon first bite we could tell that these were quality bangers. The finely ground meat packed a firm texture into thin casings that had the perfect snap. The bangers were not herby but they had a delicious salty sweetness and were quite juicy.


I would definitely go for these again! They were acceptable American-born stand-ins with some mash and onion gravy and my craving for bangers and mash has been satiated… for now.


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Elspeth Velten lives and works in New York, and writes an effortlessly stylish food blog, about one million times better written than what this one is wrote.  Pop over, have a look, and bookmark it immediately:





Thanks Elspeth!

3 comments:

Johngledson said...

Are there any outlets that market sausages from rare breeds? There is a massive upsurge in the UK for this at the moment and as such I will chasing this up in the future.

Vinogirl said...

Mmmm...these sound good. There is a Whole Foods in Napa, but as one would expect, items are regional as America is a big place.

Rate My Sausage said...

Hi John - are you looking for rare breed sausages in America? I can't really help with that, sorry dude.

Maybe Vinogirl or Elspeth can give some advice?