There will be thousands of parties across the UK to celebrate the coronation of King Charles. One of the most common items on the finger buffets will be the humble sausage roll. It is hard to explain why some sausage meat wrapped in pastry is so satisfying but there is no disputing the fact it is a favourite around the UK.
However not all sausage rolls were created equal. The bakery Greggs is renowned for its rolls but it is not the option. So how do other sausage rolls compare to Greggs?
To try and work out which is best NorthWalesLive journalist Christopher Davies did a taste compassion with the standard sausage rolls from the major North Wales supermarkets to find out to see if they could outperform Greggs.
Read more: I went to one of the only Greggs outlets in Wales where food is less than half price
To try and keep everything fair all the supermarket sausages rolls were the regular mid-range brand meaning he included no value or finest options. All were warmed up rather than eaten cold. This is what Christopher thought of each one.
Tesco
Starting with Tesco I noticed that the sausage rolls here were certainly the palest of the bunch. Even after cooking they still stood out compared to the others. They made up for it in taste though – with a good amount of spices thrown into the mix they certainly offered the most lively meat out of the supermarket bunch.
One thing worth noting as well is the differing fat percentages of the sausage rolls. Tesco has the lowest at 14%, which is fortunate as I found them the most moreish. The overall amount of meat inside them was also higher than most of their competitors making them feel like better value for money, which I did not expect at initial inspection.
Aldi
Aldi's Crestwood sausage rolls had the most meat of the bunch but as a trade-off the sausage was more bland overall. I found myself giving up on this particular option due to it simply being not exciting enough to keep eating. It would certainly fill a hole but I'd expect sausage rolls to have a little more flavour to them. Quite how it fails on the extra flavour I don't know – especially given it jumps up to 19% fat here with nothing to show for it but some flakier pastry.
Asda
Asda's sausage roll looks the best right out of the packaging with nicely-browned pastry and rich-looking sausage inside. Sadly, though, it doesn't quite live up to its looks. The sausage is the smallest of the bunch and though it offers more flavour than Aldi it still isn't as good as what Tesco delivers.
It does balance this out with a greater amount of pastry, which is rich and flaky and quite nice overall, and had there been a better balance of the two it may have worked out quite nicely. The extra pastry comes with a caveat of extra fat though as this pastry jumps up to 20% of your daily allowance so you might want to stick to just one.
Marks & Spencer
While M&S may claim to offer a sausage roll for a more refined palette the truth is it is really quite similar to its competitors. Straight out of the bag the M&S option looks cooked and ready to go so beware while cooking as it looks like it could be easily overdone as it does offer the crispiest pastry overall.
There is a nice seasoning added to the sausage as well. It's not spicy like Tesco – just something a little more subtle, giving it the most relaxed taste overall, though it also has the smallest amount of sausage of the bunch. In terms of fat content it makes the largest leap up to 25% so at a guess there's a lot more butter in the pastry this time round.
Greggs
Can any of the supermarket options compete with the king of sausage rolls though? Well the short answer is no but they do put in the work.
Fresh golden-brown warm Greggs sausage rolls have it all – the pinch of spice you'll find in Tesco's, the pastry that sits somewhere between Asda and M&S in terms of flavour and colour: Greggs sausage rolls have it all. Tesco comes the closest overall to replicating the flavour and quality available but in this case I'd have to say Aldi's sausage rolls are the "wurst".
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