Sausage Review - Broad Oak Farm Premium Pork

Broad Oak Farm (Essex) - Premium Pork

We last tried Broad Oak Farm sausages way back in 2016, so it was certainly about time we bought some more and gave them a go to update our reviews...

Our girls are currently buying a house together in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, not far as it happens from the farm factory where these Premium Porks are produced, so giving them a go at this time just seemed appropriate.

In a previous review though, we thought that Broad Oak Farm sausages being all packaged in that opaque, grease proof paper like material where you can't see the actual product though it, was a shortcoming. Nothing has changed unfortunately, they are still in the same style packaging. So come on it's only right that you need to see what you are buying...that aside there are now 8 sausages to a 454g pack which does make it more convenient for a family of 4, however the individual sausages are rather small as a consequence.

65% pork is OK but not what we would call the makings of a "premium" sausage really. Yes OK price-wise at £2.69 a pack (£5.84 / Kg) they are far from expensive to be honest.

Additionally they are not gluten free owing to the wheat rusk filler used, and, a big AND, the casings (skins) are made from beef protein, which are not natural skins.

Many manufacturers are moving to using this type of casing for a number of reasons which mainly come down to consistency and ease of mechanised production (ie. keeping sizes and weights consistent) and predominantly the matter of a desired reduction in cost of production and therefore their margins. Hey ho.

We have a big issue with protein, collagen, and generally artificial skins on sausages that we test. When you pan fry them, the skins split, can go rubbery and in some cases peel off the sausage. Yes we know if you oven bake, air fry etc etc you may not experience this effect, but we pan fry as it's one of the methods on the reverse of the packaging as cooking instructions and it's what we do to keep our many reviews consistent.

So how did they cook up then?

Well, every one of the 8 sausages suffered split skins as predicted. There wasn't any serious ruptures just annoying lengthwise splits that allow the juices in the sausage to leak into the pan. Years ago when sausages had far more water in the mix, you'd prick sausages with a fork to stop them exploding. These days it's desirable to keep the juices in the sausage and thus keep the meat moist. Splits in sausage skins, or the pricking of sausages defeats that.

So we experienced quite a bit of the juices burning in the pan and bits sticking to the outside of the sausages. OK this didn't affect the flavour overall but it just spoils the presentation. Who wants burnt bits to eat?

Given these were only 65% pork what Broad Oak lists as "quality" but sourced from where we need to find out, the texture was medium, the contents had a small amount of succulence, and the bite & chew was fair to be honest. The seasoning was very good, and flavour, not bad at all.

Overall as an everyday sausage, we'd say that'll do nicely!

Would we buy again? Probably not, but we would try the Broad Oak Farm ORIGINAL PRIME sausages, which are 90% pork in natural pork skins. So there you go.

Broad Oak Farm - Premium Pork (Oct 2024)

Here's the sample details:
100x28mm before cooking, 100x28mm after.
57g before cooking, 49g after.
That's a shrinkage of 0% & weight loss of approx 14%.
8 sausages in a 454g pack £2.69 (£5.84 / Kg)

www.broadoakfarm.com

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