Pork sausages with booze a hit with customers

McCartney’s of Moira in County Down has been run by the McCartney family for over 140 years and is now in the capable hands of 5^th generation George McCartney and his daughters Judith and Sarah.

Pork with pear or banana

Thinking outside the box has always been top of the butcher’s agenda when developing exciting new ranges of sausages for their popular shop in Moira’s main street as in the past they were first to introduce flavours like pork and pear as well as pork and banana sausages.

Although longstanding firm favourites at McCartney’s include beef and Guinness, the staff and directors continue on their quest to come up with some real exciting new flavours. Just recently the team introduced pork and cider flavour sausages but the latest launch of gin and tonic flavoured pork sausages have customers queuing out the door.

Pork with gin and tonic

With it being a summer of somewhat decent weather this year the family decided to introduce flavours with summery drinks hence adding Kopperberg Pear Cider and gin and tonic to really tickle the taste buds.

Pork with a fruity flavour: Sausages containing pear cider. Photo: Chris McCullough

McCartney’s of Moira director Judith Millar came up with the gin and tonic idea and managed to hit the recipe bang on after only one attempt.

Sausages with booze: A hit with customers

She said: “This summer has seen the launch of two new sausage flavours with the Kopparberg Pear Cider pork sausage and a Gin & Tonic pork sausage which are both proving to be a big hit with customers.

“With the summer weather in Northern Ireland being very hit and miss we were looking for something a bit different to spark some interest for this year’s summer barbecue season.

“Deciding to revisit an old pear sausage recipe and then adding a twist by using the ever-popular Kopparberg pear cider alongside real pears the combo makes for a deliciously sweet and succulent pork sausage which is great for customers looking for something different for the barbecue.”

Judith Millar showing her selection of sausages. Photo: Chris McCullough

Developing the idea did not cost time

Mrs Millar sat down to develop the gin and tonic sausage on paper and it wasn’t long before she had her idea in production.

To her amazement the recipe worked first time and did not need any tweaking at all. She said, “We add Gordon’s Gin and Schweppes Tonic to the fresh pork meat along with a homemade seasoning base containing a secret blend of botanicals,” Mrs Millar said.

For gin lovers: Sausages containing a hint of gin & tonic. Photo: Chris McCullough

“It worked first time and I did not need to alter it at all. The gin and tonic flavour has really taken off with customers, some of whom don’t even like gin. Traditional pork sausages cost £8.49 (€9.51) per kg and the gin and tonic sausages are only 30 pence (€0.34) per kg more,” she said.

Mrs Millar isn’t stopping there as she has a few more ideas coming to her butcher shop shelves this autumn with a more wintery drink flavour, but for now her lips are sealed.