Have a look at the sausages that I cooked up for tea tonight. See anything unusual ? Nope ? Me neither. But, as the packaging explains, they are actually "vegetables in disguise".
I love the packaging showing, literally, vegetables in disguise ! We received two packs to try out, first of all the Cumberland ones, packed full of onions, green beans, carrots and garden peas.
And the second pack, Chilli & Coriander, made with chillies, coriander, onions, sweetcorn and carrots.
They're made from a mixture of vegetables, spices, white rice, dried potatoes and potato starch so they are vegetarian approved/vegan (depending on the variety) and gluten free. They're a healthy, low fat alternative to normal sausages - the pack explains that they contain 90% less fat, 50% fewer calories and 55% less salt than normal sausages. Another bonus is that by eating 3 of them, you've covered one of your 5-a-day.
I oven baked them but you can also cook them on the BBQ, under the grill or shallow fry them. They hold their shape very well while cooking and even when you chop them up. Texture-wise, they remind me of vegetable galettes.
The Cumberland ones smell strongly of stuffing when you open the pack and the Chilli & Coriander ones smell of spices. Once cooked, they have a herby taste that still does taste like stuffing. I wasn't keen on the texture of the vegetarian/vegan casings which felt a bit plasticky in my mouth but I soon got used to them. I liked the Chilli & Coriander ones best - they're only slightly spicy - but I found the herby (sage?) taste to be a bit overpowering in the Cumberland ones. I was surprised to see that everyone, even the kids and absolute carnivore Madhouse Daddy said they were nice too. You could always hide them in things like sausage casserole if you have picky eaters though !
There are other recipes in the range, including Cheese & Spring Onion (which sound divine), Rosemary & Garlic, Lincolnshire and Honey Bee. If you're vegetarian or vegan or just looking for a way to reduce the fat and calorie content in your diet, they're definitely worth a try. 100g of product (the whole pack of 6 sausages weighs 240g) provides about 150 calories and 1-2g of fat of which 0.5-0.7g saturates. I was surprised at how filling they are too.
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £3.49 for 240g
Disclosure : I received the product in order to write an honest review.
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Ohh they sound tasty! I like the sound of the Cumberland one ;)
ReplyDeleteI often buy Cumberland sausages from our local butchers. After all the meat scares over the years I am very picky what I buy and NEVER buy cheap sausages as you never know what is in them! Cumberland are really meaty and tasty though!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this lovely and helpful review, however, your link to the Secret Sausages website appears to lead somewhere you did not intend it to! I do think this should be rectified...
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know :)
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