The Bonneville

To me this bike captures something of the classic British style.  There were people stopping and admiring the bike almost as much so as with the Scrambler.  

The bike pictured is a Bonneville T100 (bit more chrome and a rev counter compared to a Bonneville) which just pulls on my heart strings and asks me to tour it round the British countryside.

The Speedmaster

From the quiet, understated, Bonneville I tried out the beast that is the Speedmaster.  Like the Scrambler, this bike had some loud after-market exhausts which weren’t quite loud enough to drown out the admiration some people clearly had for the bike when I rode through town.

The steering was a bit heavier than the Bonneville and the location of the pegs has possibly been influenced by American cruisers.  All together the bike had much more poke but lacked the British feel of the Bonneville.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment or vote in the poll on the right hand side.

Sausagefans.com was, initially, set up as a bit of a joke.  Coverage in the local and national media led to me getting a ridiculous number of emails a day about sausages.  It gradually dawned on my that I was not alone in my quest for great bangers!  Indeed the Sausagefans.com website now attracts over 4 million its a year and have 1,200+ UK recommended butchers listed.

About four or five years ago the press started to refer to me as The Sausage King which I thought was superb and I am delighted the nickname has stuck!  Inspired by The Long Way Down the Sausage King Adventures have two broad objectives.  Firstly to raise the profile of British sausages and, secondly, to highlight the plight of UK pig farmers who are suffering considerable financial pressures.

The more I travel around the country the more I see enthusiasm for sausages and how much people are passionate about their regional varieties.  The comments I get and recommendations enthuse me further with the trip.

Last time I chatted to Graham the website was pretty much still a tongue in cheek effort to harness the collective power of the internet to get sausage recommendations.  Now the website attracts sausage loving visitors from all over the World and lists 1,200+ UK sausage makers.  It also has nearly 3,000 subscribers for The Sizzler.

I was delighted to chat to Graham who is a genuinely nice man.  He was rushing around trying to find some lunch when I got there and, perhaps next time, I will make sure sausages are on the menu!

To say Jonathan, who runs F L Edge, is a visionary is an understatement.  In a market where many are struggling their business is booming and is centred around high quality meat and top service.  They sell about 2.5 tons of sausages a week and have 19 different flavours.  As you can imagine I had been looking forward to visiting!

Jonathan has grown up in the business and works with a confidence which shows what a strong handle he has on everything that is going on.  Early on in my visit I get the chance to work with the ladies making the sausages.  I was delighted to get the chance to be involved in the full process from mincing the meat, mixing in the secret blend of spices to stuffing and hanging the sausages.  The ladies clearly enjoy their work and care goes into the sausages.  I must have made 450 or so while I was there and they guided me through the process with care and attention.

The demand for Edge’s sausages is huge both from visitors to the shop and from trade customers.  On Thursday I plan to visit the Norwich Beer Festival and I was delighted to find out, for example, that they supply the Crib with their sausages!

The sausages are still sold from hooks in the shop.  The shop is very much like the ones my Mum and I would visit when I was a child and the sausages were cut from the hooks for each customer.  Edge’s is a very traditional butcher and Jonathan knows everyone who comes into the shop by name.

Expansion has allowed F. L. Edge to cure their own bacon on the premises and I also got the chance to visit Edge’s butchery school.  Watching this space for information on their sausage making courses!

Jonathan is an energetic and modern butcher and he and his father have embraced the changes in the market and moved with them and this has led to the opportunity to expand both in terms of premises but more importantly product range.  They are constantly striving to keep their food miles down (the pigs come from the village for example) and are constantly innovating.  Their new butchery school is already a success and their sausage making course should be a hit with those wanting to experiment at home.

And importantly, their sausages taste great!  You can buy them from their East Harling or Thetford shops or (coming soon) via mail order.

The winner was Stephen Vaughan of Vaughan’s Family Butchers in Chester and the opinion of the other butchers I spoke to was that he was well deserving of the prize.  I think this level of respect speaks volumes.

I was lucky enough to get a picture with the winner and have a look at the rather massive trophy!

There was a great atmosphere at the competition as all of the butchers are already winners otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to enter.  The Meat Trades Journal organised the event very well and we ate like Lords at lunchtime on bangers and mash with the sausages being supplied by last years winner!

I enjoy riding anywhere on the Triumph Scrambler and riding the Triumph Scrambler to a sausage event is particularly exciting.  From Norfolk’s tree covered roads to the picturesque, flat fens the bike is a pleasure.

I always find the people of Lincolnshire very passionate about their sausages and today was no exception.  Three people stopped me to talk sausages after I had parked the bike before I had even got into the event!  It is always nice to hear people’s opinions and suggestions on where I should be going on my adventures.

The Festival is held in the grounds of Lincoln Castle and beyond in the space between the Castle and Lincoln Cathedral.  The Castle area is mainly potato related and the space between the Castle and the Cathedral is mainly sausage related.

It is rare that so many high quality sausage makers are in one place - this is a sort of sausage heaven!

I was delighted to see all of the sausage makers very busy, Redhill Farm doing a roaring trade both for sausages and haslet.  Pink Pig Organics were in the process of making a warming sausage dish in the saucepan which smelt excellent.  I also got the chance to try some of their traditional pork sausage which was a really meaty and seriously succulent sausage.  These are two sausage makers I can’t wait to spend some more time with!  

Neil Curtis of Curtis of Lincoln was doing a brilliant demonstration of sausage stuffing and linking.  I also got the chance to meet the people at Geo Adams and have a chat to them about what they’re up to.  There were several other sausage makers who caught my attention as well as Tom Wood who makes some great beers to go with sausages.

The Cosmic Sausages were also in attendance providing the perfect soundtrack for enjoying the sausages!

The Norwich and Norfolk Food Festival competition was very closely contested indeed both for the people’s and experts’ choice.  Over 4000 people voted for their favourite sausage while a team of chefs selected the expert’s choice.

If you tried the sausages today I am keen to hear from you.  Please leave a comment below to let me know what you thought.

I’ve had a chat with some of the entrants already and they are so enthusiastic I can’t wait to sample their sausages.

My wife and son have sampled the sausages and cast their votes and from what I can see the decision is going to be very hard as the sausages are all of an excellent standard.

Over the rest of the day I will be talking to the other entrants and will post more information here.  

I will be announcing the winner at about 4pm on the John Lewis cookery stage in the Forum.  If you fancy sampling some of the finest sausages in the country and voting for the winner do come and join us.

This is a town which cares about it’s food.  There are five butchers in the town, a greengrocer and a fishmonger as well as scores of other, small, independent shops.

Aside from the excellence in sausages (and more on that in a minute) when you first see the shop you realise it is not by accident that Charles keeps winning Nantwich in Bloom awards:

The magnificent frontage welcomes you in to see the vast array of fresh quality produce on offer.  The inside of the shop is light and airy.  Charles’ Father came up with the original recipe for their traditional pork sausages back in 1929 and the current variations are true to this base recipe.

There are up to 30 different varieties available at a time and I can confirm that they are truly sensational sausages.  I recently tried the Pork & Garlic which were dangerously moorish with their meaty tangy flavour.  The Pork & Apple had proper chunks of apple in which made it really juicy and succulent and the smell and the taste of the cider perfectly complimented the meat.  You will be able to read my full review on www.sausagefans.com shortly.

Not only has Charles truly innovated with his sausages but the rest of his products are also imaginative.  You can buy, for example, pre-marinated chicken in portions for two people which just needs sticking in the oven.  At £2.65 per pack this is further proof that supporting your local butcher can be cheaper than buying from a supermarket.

They have also turned their hand to pie making and freshly produce a wide range including pork, steak and meat and potato.  All the pies are made on the premises so they can be 100% sure of the ingredients.

Clewlow’s butcher is a true family business spanning generations of the Clewlow family (Charles’ son now works in the business) and I think is an example of how it should be done.  In a climate of credit crunching people are turning to honest butchers like Charles to help them get the most for their money.

H Clewlow is on Pepper Street in Nantwich

http://www.clewlows.co.uk

01270 625366

As always at the Ludlow Food Festival the quality of the sausages was extremely high and judging was difficult.  This year I was joined by Chris Sheen (from Musks) and Henrietta Green (from Food Lovers Britain) as well as my Father in Law who has become an expert after being subjected to many tastings in the Sausage King Household!  The decision was as difficult as it always is in Ludlow and in the end we had to take into account the whole sausage and include the quality of the casings and any shrinking that had taken place during cooking and all four judges decided on A H Griffiths.

Fortunately the Expert’s Choice was the same as the people’s choice so I didn’t have to jump on the motorbike and escape quickly!

While at the Ludlow Food Festival, which is the central point on so many Foodie’s calendarsm I took the opportunity to try and find some perfect British drinks to drink with sausages.  My findings include wine, ale and perry and I will write more about these on www.sausagefans.com in the next few days.

Next weekend is a key date in anyone’s sausage diary!  The Ludlow Food Festival sausage trail.  It’s worth getting to Ludlow early as there is a limit of 2000 tickets which you use to tour the towns sausage makers sampling as you go.  You then vote helping to make the “people’s choice”.  Later on in the day a team of experts will also sample the sausages and make an “experts choice”!

Not only is Ludlow the centre of the universe for sausages next weekend but there will also be 130 or so other local food stalls!