Porky White's (Surrey) -
Porky Lights
The kind people at Porky
Whites sent us a range of
their sausages so we could
update our reviews. The
troops here said "whoa MORE sausages!" Look I said,
now come on, it's a
challenge but someone has to
do it...
So Porky
Lights, last reviewed by us
in 2017, and still look to
be a popular choice for a
less fat and gluten free option for those
that desire such. OK what we
quoted then about Slimming
World and their award of a
very low amount of "syn
points" at the time did get
a further review after
analysis by them which
revealed that the sausages
did have significantly higher fat
content than initially
stated. Porky Whites do say
now that these are 50% less
fat compared to their
regular Surrey Pork
sausages. So if reduced fat
content is what you require,
and "syn points" of 4.5 are
OK, then these may suit?
The packaging has recently been
updated in a new style which
we understand to be referred
to as "dinner inspiration"
and it also carries a novel
QR code on the back which
links to some interesting
recipes etc., on Porky Whites
own web site. This packaging says
that Porky
Lights are made from 75%
prime cuts of lean,
hand-trimmed pork,
delicately seasoned and with
less salt and sugar. GLUTEN
FREE and free of genetically
modified ingredients too.
Now the pork is
described as from UK and non-UK
sources, which isn't as
specific as we would like to
be honest given the amount
of interest of such Sausage
Review readers have said
they would like. We'll
continue to investigate this
but we have read that
"Almost all of the meat
sourced for our products
comes from within the UK
with some additional
supplies coming from trusted
EU farms to make up any
shortfall of UK supplies. We
always ensure that animal
welfare is a priority and
over 90% of our suppliers
are either RSPCA or Red
Tractor accredited." (A
figure of 100% should be the
case really)
However what we have
noticed immediately is that
whereas in 2017 the Porky
Lights were clad in "natural
skins", nowadays the casings
are that pork collagen type.
You've probably read
previously our views on
these and the challenges
we've had trying to cook
such by pan frying and
trying to avoid the skins
splitting and in some cases
going all "rubbery" and
peeling off. OK yes it might
not bother some, but it does
bother us, and others we
have spoken to.
In the raw they looked
good weighing in around
67g a go and in a fairly
standard size at 105mm x
30mm uncooked.
Using the recommended
guidelines on the packet we
pan fried (as we do all our
sampling) and they cooked up
OK but even being very, very
careful with temperature the
skins split and did peel
unfortunately. We also
tried a couple in an
airfryer and the same
occured. Look this fact isn't
a show stopper of course but
the rubbery bits of skin
burning in the pan and sticking to
the other sausages did
nothing for the overall look
when dishing up. The cases
need to retain the
contents and keep the
sausage succullent, having
large gashes in the skins
lets the juices/oils out. No
shrinkage was noted but
cooked weight loss of approx
15% cannot be ignored sorry
to say. A touch more oil in
the pan after cooking was
noted.
The sausages did cut easily and
the texture we found was
once again just on the smooth side of
medium. Succulence was
ok just about with nice spice
and yes a lighter sausage to
chew. In a sandwich
these would be a good
choice, but once again if
you do, go
easy on the sauce and let
the sausage taste do it's
thing...
A word to
the wise, you may get better
results if you were to oven
bake or casserole these rather than pan
frying or airfrying. Just
saying.
The bottom line and we'll have
to be honest, although we'd
go as far as to say these
are a good everyday sausage
(not that we are advocating
you eat sausages EVERY day)
but we don't think these are
quite as good as the
previous Porky Lights that
were in natural skins.
Look, this is our
honest opinion and of
course it may differ
completely from your own. If it does,
we'd be pleased to hear
about it.
Porky White's (Surrey) -
Porky Lights
(May
2025)
Here's the
sample details:
105x30mm before cooking, 105x30mm
after.
67g before cooking, 57g after.
That's a shrinkage of approx 0% & weight
loss of approx 15%.
6 sausages in a 400g pack retails
online at
Morrisons £3.50
(£8.75/kg approx).


(Feb
2017)

(Feb
2017)

www.porkywhites.com