IT'S been a tough week for the sausage.
There's only one (fat) bloke for a job like this...
For nigh on two thousand glorious years this porky little wonder has lived an indubitable existence, enjoying staple diet status from the Byzantine Constantinoplians through to those wide-bottomed Yanks chuffing footlong hotdogs at the rounders.
Now, for the first time since Leo VI the Wise outlawed the blood sausage sometime in the 10th century (dicky bellies were rife), the sausage is coming under threat.
Those wet blankets over at the World Health Organisation recently unveiled new research linking processed meat - the types used in sausages, bacon, ham and so on - to cancer. Yes, ruddy CANCER, putting it in the same category as tobacco, alcohol, asbestos and even arsenic. Crikey.
The Lawn Club chefs bash out the bangers for ConfidentialPerfect timing then for the coming of the eighteenth annual British Sausage Week, which runs from 2-8 November, carrying the theme 'sausages of distinction'. Sounds very Saga holidays that, but mainly involves some butcher from Hampshire pandering to a gaggle of giddy PR folk and knocking together the 'Most Expensive Sausage In The World' (£37 each) using Magalitsa pork, truffles and a £450 bottle of vintage 1947 port.
Sorry Kevin Turner from Aldershot, but you can stick your £700/kilo poshausage, because this week Confidential are interested in only one thing - GREATER MANCHESTER'S VERY BEST BANGERS.
We've been up to Bury, down to Sale, through Chorlton and over to Glossop (yes, yes Derbyshire...) in our quest for the region's finest, collecting sausages from: WH Frost's (Chorlton), Mettrick's (Glossop), Bangers & Bacon (Spinningfields), Axon's (Didsbury), Hesketh and Clair (Sale Moor), Butcher's Quarter (Northern Quarter) and Grandad's Sausages (Bury), alongside the finest from Waitrose, Booths, Aldi and Tesco... for evenhandedness.
Having rounded-up the superstar bangers, Confidential carted them off to The Lawn Club in Spinningfields for a good, honest, old-fashioned cook-off
...and, unfortunately, there's only one (fat) bloke for a job like this...
Gordo's Best Bangers in Manchester - The Lawn Club from Manchester Confidential on Vimeo.
AND THE WINNERS ARE...
1. METTRICK'S - Traditional Pork Sausage
PRICE - £4.30, 500g
RATING - Gordo 32/40, Gale 25/40, Overall 28.5/40
As they say, the old 'uns are the good 'uns, and that's certainly the case for The Fat One and chef Gale as John Mettrick's humble traditional pork sausage comes up trumps, scoring a collective 17/20 for flavour from the judges. Well done John. Only problem, Glossop is 40 minutes drive from Manchester, so who's in second place...
20-22 High St W, Glossop SK13 8BH
Mettrick's winning sausage celebrates
2. GRANDAD'S SAUSAGES - Pork & Bury Black Pudding
PRICE - £3.50 for six
RATING - Gordo 31/40, Gale 25/40, Overall 28/40
Ooo so close for Grandad's, the unseeded dark horse from the deepest darkest corners of Lancashire (well, Bury), which comes in only half a point behind the champ with their best-selling Pork and Bury black pudding sausage. It's a belting result for Grandad's - a family business started by Grandad Bernard more than fifty years ago and now run by brothers Michael and Matthew - with Gordo scoring their entry a 9/10 for both smell and flavour. You can find these two trading from the Postbox Cafe in Chorlton or order online at grandadssausages.com
Grandad's - 'putting a smile on Grandma's face for over 50 years'
3. BANGERS & BACON - another Pork and Black Pud
PRICE - £3.50 for a pack of six
RATING - Gordo 26/40, Gale 25/40, Overall 25.5/40
It's another winning black pudding speckled banger, this time from Spinningfields' oink-botherers Bangers & Bacon (interestingly chef Gale scored each of the Top 3 equally). B&B are hosting their own series of Sausage Week events at The Kitchens, Leftbank, until Sunday 8 November, including the 'Sausage Olympics' this Saturday where James 'Bobby's' Taylor will attempt the World Record for the most bangers filled and linked in one minute. More at bangersandbacon.co.uk
The Kitchens, Irwell Square, Leftbank, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3AG
Bangers' bangin' bangerSo there you have it, Confidential's pick of the very best bangers in Greater Manchester and beyond. Right, what's next? World Vegan Month? Erm Gordo... Gordo... where's he gone?
Find more of the region's best food and drink - including Manchester's Top 10 Steaks and Top 5 Negronis - on Confidential's Best of Manchester page.
'Someone say sausage?'
