Bangers and mash, toad in the hole, sausage sandwich. The good old British banger can be relied on to provide a meal that’s both cracking value and downright delicious. No wonder there are dozens of different kinds on sale: I tasted a full 50 for this taste test.

Broadly, they fall into four categories.

Firstly, bags of frozen sausages, which tend to be at the cheap end with prices starting at 18p/100g for Tesco Butcher’s Choice, although most cost around 40p/100g. In general I found these to be pretty dreadful, which is sad: there’s no reason frozen food should be poor quality.

Then there are the bargain-basement versions in the chiller cabinet, the likes of Asda Just Essentials, in a simple cellophane wrap, at 37p/100g. Next step up are the standard sausages, also in a bag but with a slightly more upmarket look, perhaps printed to look like butcher’s paper.

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Most expensive of all the supermarket bangers are the top-rung own-label brands which come in a plastic tray covered in plastic film and sheathed in a cardboard sleeve. Prices vary from 62p/100g for Lidl Deluxe pork sausages to 79p/100g for Waitrose No1.

And there are also some “super premium” products, such as Tesco Finest Signature pork sausages, which come in at 91p/100g compared to 75p/100g for Tesco Finest – likely to compete with the super-luxe “farm” sausages, such as Farmison’s delectable Nidderdale half-dozen.

Here’s my verdict on 50 high-street specimens, judged on taste and texture as well as other factors (more of which below).

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Zero-star sausages

One-star sausages

Two-star sausages

Three-star sausages

Four-star sausages

Five-star sausages

The best frozen sausage

The winning five-star sausage

How I tasted

Other factors considered in the taste test

Zero-star sausages

Stamford Street Co. Thick Pork Sausages x20 1kg

The Black Farmer Daughter 12 Premium Pork Sausages 700g

Sainsbury's Thick Pork Sausages x20 900g

ASDA 20 Thick Pork Sausages 907g

Iceland 14 (Approx.) Pork Sausages 700g

Aldi lightly seasoned

Tesco butcher choice

Tesco butcher choice

One-star sausages

Copy of Co-op Irresistible Pork Sausages

JUST ESSENTIALS by ASDA 8 Pork Sausages

M&S Food Butchers Sausages

DukesHill Extra Meaty Pork Sausages (gluten-free)

Richmond Thick Pork Sausages

Co-op Butcher’s Choice British Pork Sausages

Co-op Butcher’s Choice British Pork Sausages

Aldi Ashfield Farm Butcher’s Select Pork Sausages

Tesco 16 Pork Sausages 720g

Essential 12 British Pork Sausages681g

Two-star sausages

Porky Whites Premium Surrey Pork Sausages

Finnebrogue Naked Pork Sausages

By Sainsbury’s Butcher’s Choice Pork Sausages

Morrisons The Best Old English Pork Sausages

Edwards Traditional Pork Sausages

Ocado British Pork Sausages

The Black Farmer Premium Pork Sausages

Waitrose No.1 British Free Range Pork Sausages

Iceland Pork Sausages (frozen)

Three-star sausages

Packington Free Range Old English Pork Sausages

Heck 97% Pork Sausages

Morrisons The Best Thick Pork Sausages (gluten-free)

M&S Food Collection Great British Pork Bangers

By Asda Exceptional Classic Pork Sausages

Lidl Birchwood Butcher’s Choice Pork Sausages

Lidl Birchwood Butcher’s Choice Pork Sausages

Aldi Specially Selected Pork Sausages

Lidl Deluxe Pork Sausages

Lidl Deluxe Pork Sausages

Tesco Finest Pork Sausages

Four-star sausages

M&S Food Collection Heritage Gold Pork Sausages

The Jolly Hog Proper Porkers Sausages

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Pork Sausages

Tesco Finest Signature Pork Sausages

M&S Food Collection Ultimate Pork Sausages

M&S Food Butchers Sausages 75% Pork

Powters Newmarket Pig Premium Sausages

Asda Flavourful Pork Sausages

Copy of Asda Flavourful Pork Sausages

Morrisons The Best Ultimate Pork Sausages

Waitrose Duchy Organic Pork Sausages

Farmison & Co The Nidderdale Sausage

The best frozen sausage

Braemoor Thick Pork Sausages (frozen)

Braemoor Thick Pork Sausages (frozen)

The winning 5-star sausage

Co-op Irresistible Pork Sausages

Co-op Irresistible Pork Sausages

How I tasted

As it’s imperative that I taste blind, my husband cooked all the products according to their manufacturer’s preferred method as indicated on the packet (grilling/frying/oven cooking). Where no preference was given but oven cooking was an option, this was the method chosen. If oven cooking was not offered as an option, the sausages were grilled.

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Nearly all the packs state that cooking times may vary; where it was felt the sausage needed more or less time, that was allowed for.

The 50 cooked sausages were labelled A-Z and 1-24, assessed for appearance, smell, flavour and texture, and awarded a score. They were then grouped according to score, and I retasted to check that the scores were comparable. The identities of the sausages were eventually revealed and I checked their ingredients, along with any welfare commitments for the meat.

Other factors considered in the taste test

Welfare standards

Making a decision about which sausage to buy isn’t as simple as what tastes best for the money: we want to know the pig has been well reared in a country we trust, which for many of us means in the UK. We may also want to be reassured that the welfare standards are up to scratch. This requires some hard examination of the packaging.

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At the bottom end of the price scale, the meat is generally British and EU, but with no reassurance beyond that. Moving up the scale, Red Tractor certification guarantees basic levels of traceability and housing standards, while RSPCA Assured is a more robust standard, with extra space and bedding provided for animals as well as a ban of farrowing crates (which restrict the sow’s movement) and a later weaning date for piglets. Organically farmed pigs have the most space and an organic diet to boot.

Bear in mind that “outdoor bred” means just that: the pigs are born outdoors but moved indoors once they are weaned, at about 3-4 weeks. “Outdoor reared” pigs get to stay outside for longer, about 10 weeks. Only free-range pigs get to spend their whole life with the option to go outdoors.

Pork content

While sausages were traditionally a means to use up “trim” from larger joints (and an excellent way to prevent waste), butchers can’t throw any old bits and bobs in.

Legally, a pork sausage must contain a minimum of 42 per cent pork, and as the meat is the most expensive ingredient, cheaper sausages tend to edge close to this. At the premium end, some sausages contain over 90 per cent pork. Bear in mind that a bit of “rusk” (breadcrumbs or a gluten-free equivalent) keeps the sausage juicy and soft, so don’t expect 100 per cent meat.

Sausage casings

Traditionally, sausages are stuffed in pork intestine or “hog casings”, with narrower lamb or sheep casings used for chipolatas and cocktail sausages. Natural casings are mandatory for organic sausages but have been otherwise abandoned by most of the big manufacturers, who opt instead for the consistent and lower-priced casings made out of beef collagen or one using alginate from seaweed.

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In my tasting some of the beef collagen ones were thicker and crisped to an almost biscuity texture. Not unpleasant, but not what I’m looking for in a banger. Others peeled like a bad case of sunburn, or struggled to brown up properly under the grill. Alginate versions fared better on the whole, while the couple with natural casings I tried had a nice delicate stickiness.

What’s your favourite brand of sausages? Tell us in the comments below

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