TC Tuesdays on Dee 106.3 with Vaughans Butchers and NoW Food #Radio

Lisa Edwards
1st March 2017

As if we have not tasted and talked enough of Sausages recently we were eager to do some more! On Dee 106.3 with Gavin Matthews last night we were joined by Steve Vaughan of Vaughans Butchers, Penyffordd and Jeff George from the NoW Food Centre, Chester.

Steve was the very important Head Judge last Tuesday (21 February) at the Taste Cheshire Sausage Competition. Jeff, Gavin and our very own Briony were also judges – Briony being the chairman of the competition.

Jeff talked about the NoWFOOD centre which is a centre of excellence for food science and technology for producers across the North West region. The centre encourages and nurtures small and medium sized food businesses, and helps to support the economic growth of the region by providing the facilities and expertise enabling food and drink manufacturers to explore new markets and develop new product ideas.  The centre also offers hands-on support from experienced and skilled food development scientists and technologists.

Steve was passionate about sausages and what makes a good sausage – skin, good meat and seasoning and well filled with no air pockets. He also told us in no uncertain terms! that sausages should always be fried in a little oil as this keeps the flavour rather than grilling which can dry the sausages out. So no grilling just fry was the clear message from Steve.

We were also lucky to taste two of Steve’s award winning sausages.

A new one to me was the Coffee and black pepper sausage. As soon as we took the wrapper off the cooked sausages the aroma of coffee was lovely (being a coffee lover it got my taste buds going!). We all thought coffee in a sausage! surely not! but the taste was fantastic, just a slight hint of the coffee hit the back of my throat followed by a kick of black pepper.

The second sausage we tasted was Welsh dragon chilli and leek. Wow this was also a stunning sausage, the chilli kick was just enough to taste without overpowering and the leeks added a great texture.

The meat in Steve’s sausages is clearly quality, making them very moreish.

The finalist sausages will be tasted at the Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival on Sunday 16 April at 11am by the audience. The winner of each category (plain and flavoured) will be announced at the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Awards on 19 April.