Borough Market, Southwark, London, United Kingdom
www.bostonsausage.co.uk

After the slightly disappointing sausage roll from Northfield Farm’s stall in London’s Borough Market, I continued wandering around, looking for more interesting things to sample. In a far corner of the market, right next to Southwark Cathedral, is a row of hot food stalls, preparing lunch treats for passersby. Amongst the grilled cheese sandwiches, kebabs, and enormous dishes of paella, was a place named Boston Sausage. They did a line in sausages on bread rolls, and burgers. But also on the menu, under the heading “Appetisers”, was the golden item: sausage rolls. And only £1 each, so I assumed they must be fairly small.

I went over and asked for one, but the guy told me that they were just putting a batch into the oven, and they’d take about 15 minutes. I said I’d return and went for a bit more of a wander through the bustling market. After about 15 minutes I returned, to the loud spruiking voice of one of the staff proclaiming, “Hot sausage rolls! Come and get ’em! Best sausage rolls in the universe! Better than my mum makes!” There was a metal tray piled with the rolls hot out of the oven, and they were going quickly as people were attracted to the yelling and the delicious smells of the stall.

I raced in to make sure I scored one of the rolls, paid my pound, and scurried away to eat it in the safety of a nearby shady area. The man had said that they were pork, sage, and pepper sausage rolls. And it immediately scored three points over Northfield Farm’s effort: it was hot out of the oven, it was cheaper, and it was bigger. The pastry was pretty thick, encasing a steaming hot centre of spiced pork meat. The outer layers were golden, crisp, and flaky, but the inner layer of pastry was a bit doughy, probably because it was sitting so close to the juicy meat filling.

This filling was soft, juicy, spicy, and utterly delicious. This really could have been better than the spruiker’s mother used to make. There were flecks of dark green leaves, presumably the fresh sage, as well as tiny black specks from the pepper. These combined with the juicy port meat into a delicious spicy, savoury whole, all set off nicely by the pastry surrounding it.

This was much better than the earlier roll I’d tried from Northfield Farm. I would have returned for another one of these, but by the time I’d finished the tray had been sold. And I wanted to go in search of a sweet treat for dessert from one of the other market stalls anyway.

Pork, sage, and pepper sausage roll: 9/10