Supermarket sausages beat branded banger rivals

The latest Which? taste test reveals that supermarket own brand sausages are tastiest. We tested 13 premium pork sausages and found:

• The top four premium pork sausages were from supermarkets’ own brand ranges, with Morrisons M Signature Thick Outdoor-Bred Pork Sausages being rated the highest with a score of 82%. The judges were impressed with the meaty flavour of this well made, tasty sausage.
• Aldi Specially Selected Pork Sausages had the lowest score (44%), with our panel of experts finding the sausages looked unappealing both raw and cooked especially as they had shrunk a lot while cooking.
• Also rated highly were Marks & Spencer British Outdoor-Bred 97% Pork Sausages (76%), Asda Extra Special Pork Sausages (75%) and The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Pork Sausages (71%), with the Marks and Spencer sausages described as having a pleasant aroma and being well seasoned.
• In a survey of Which? members a third (33%) said they preferred to eat sausages as bangers and mash, with the second favourite option being eating sausages in a cooked breakfast (16%).

Which? editor, Richard Headland, said:

“If you’re looking for the best banger for your summer barbecue, we’ve found that supermarkets’ sausages are generally tastier than some of their branded rivals.”

Notes to editors

1. The 13 sausages that we tested were:

2. The sausages were assessed raw, then fried according to any instructions on the packet, or otherwise to our chef’s liking. Our experts blind taste tested them and scored each on taste (50%), texture (20%), aroma (20%) and appearance (10%). We combined the scores to give an overall rating.

3. We surveyed 885 Which? members in March 2014 and asked them their favourite ways to eat sausages.

Press Release: Consumer, Food