Who needs a silly meat sausage?! (Linda McCartney Sausages)

Member Name: nessyboo

Product:	Linda McCartney Sausages
Date:	20/05/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Widely available, tasty, versatile

Disadvantages: Slightly fatty, slightly expensive

Linda McCartney Sausages are one of the most widely available vegetarian sausages on the market. They're available in most supermarkets, including Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda. They cost around £1.89 for 6 sausages (300g) from the freezer compartment.

You need to keep them in the freezer and cook from frozen, but if for some reason you thaw them out they're fine to use from chilled. You can grill, fry or bake them in the oven, so they're quite versatile. They take from 10-20 minutes to cook depending on the method used.

The sausages are of a good size, nice and fat, and have a lovely meaty flavour, which isn't overpowering. They don't have skins but can be nice and crispy on the outside, staying pleasantly soft in the middle. They soak up flavours of other things quite well, for example if you use them in a sausage casserole, they are excellent. The texture reminds me somewhat of meat sausages, much more so than most veggie sausages out there.

The recipe was changed a year or two ago and, while reducing the number of sausages by 2, they have removed all the hydrogenated fat, which is a relief. Although the sausages are a little fatty so I wouldn't recommend frying in oil. If you have a 'lean mean fat grilling machine', you will find a lot of the fat (or gunk) comes off the sausages, whilst not impairing the flavour, a good tip if you're trying to lose a bit of weight!

I use these sausages all the time, as they're readily available, delicious, and suitable for vegans. They do contain gluten however, so not suitable for those with an intolerance or allergy, but aren't as difficult to digest as other veggie sausages made with wheat protein.

They're great in a sausage butty (slice in half and cook that way to ensure a great flavour and that it's cooked properly), toad in the hole, sausage casserole, and sliced up in veggie fajitas. The possibilities are of course endless!

Ingredients: Rehydrated textured wheat protein (63%), vegetable oil, water, pea and wheat protein, flavourings, rusk, stabiliser: hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose.

(textured wheat protein contains wheat starch. Flavourings contain dextrose, salt, onion, yeast extract, colour - red iron oxide. Rusk contains wheat flour, salt)

Nutritional info, per sausage:
101kcal, 4.4g fat, of which saturates 1.8g, Protein 11.3g, Fibre 0.8g, Salt 0.8g

Summary: Good old Linda!