I compared sausages from Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and M&S to Richmond - £4 packet is winner
Sausages remain a cornerstone of British cooking - scrumptious in breakfast baps, alongside mash or chips, packed into Yorkshire puddings, smothered with gravy, or barbecued outdoors.
A quality pork banger ought to be full of flavour and not overly greasy, featuring premium meat, a delicious spice mix, and natural skin.
Richmond stands out as one well-known brand, with its sausages regarded as the top choice across supermarket aisles. In an effort to discover whether own-brand sausages match up to the branded alternative, I sampled five different offerings from leading retailers.
With assistance from five family members, I carried out a blind tasting, comparing sausages from supermarkets including Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, M&S, and Sainsbury's against the well-known Richmond brand.
The sausages were all prepared in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 200C, with each participant rating them from one to five. The overall scores were subsequently totalled to establish the overall winner.
Below are the sausages listed from poorest to finest according to the blind tasting:
Richmond
Finishing bottom in our tasting was the major brand option: Richmond. Despite representing the top brand of pork bangers, we remained unimpressed with the taste or consistency.
During the blind tasting, the sausages were characterised as possessing "no taste or texture," being "very soft and salty," and "tasteless and very rusky."
Aldi
Achieving the second poorest score, Aldi's bangers were characterised as having "less flavour" and "not as much taste" when measured against the other options. Despite this, they are the most affordable of the lot at £2.49 for a pack of six weighing 400g.
Score: 17 out of 30.
Sainsbury's
In joint third place is Sainsbury's pork sausages from its Taste the Difference range. We found these to be flavoursome and generously sized, however, they did turn out very pale in colour compared to the others.
At £3 for a pack of six, it works out as 50p per sausage.
M&S
M&S' sausages tied in third place with Sainsbury's, and while they were much better in colour, they didn't fare well for texture.
The sausages were described as being "chewy," and "quite fatty", with an "odd taste".
At £4.25 for a 400g pack, this was the priciest option in the taste test.
Lidl
Coming in at second place was Lidl's pork chipolata sausages. These sausages won points for their "good colouring" once cooked and scored well for their "herby" flavour.
While these chipolatas are thinner in size, they ranked highly for their flavour profile and texture. Priced at £2.49 for 12 sausages (375g a pack), they also offer good value.
Score: 23 out of 30.
Tesco
Last but certainly not least was our winner: Tesco's finest pork sausages. These sausages were described as "salty, juicy and meaty" with a good taste and size.
In terms of cost, they are slightly pricier at £4 for a pack of four sausages, but they also contain the most meat: weighing in at 440g in total. The sausages themselves are also large in size and ideal for hot dogs.
Moreover, they tasted top-notch with a delightful mix of seasoning - not overly fatty or salty.
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