Well, I did a quick search of the Foodlovers forum archives and can advise that this is the first thread to ever be about saveloys! They do get a brief mention on a sausage thread from 11 years ago but otherwise no-one is talking about saveloys.

My partner likes saveloys. I ate a lot of them as a child too. We both know what a saveloy is supposed to taste like and look like, having partaken of so many.

The best ones were Premier saveloys, made by the Premier Carterton factory. But about five years ago they stopped making them. The closest thing to them I could find were Esk Valley saveloys. Bought them for a few years. Then our local New World and PaknSave stopped stocking Esk Valley. Then a butcher and another in-the-know local said buy the saveloys from a butchery a bit further south. Went to that butchery, bought a bag of saveloys - great, problem solved, whew, thank goodness. Went back for some more - owner downsizing workload due to health, not making saveloys anymore. The in-the-know local said only place to buy good saveloys now is Moore Wilson's. Went to Moore Wilson's a couple of weeks ago - sold out of saveloys! Went back last week - still no saveloys. In desperation, knowing there was a deep, dark, hole in the freezer space where saveloys are supposed to reside, I bought some Hellers Classic Saveloys. They do not look like saveloys are supposed to look, not in colour, nor shape, nor size. But they might be better than nothing. I ate a piece of one when I got home, to see if they at least passed the taste test. Close enough, will do if nothing else is available. The weekend arrived. Some of them got cooked. Attached is a photo of what they looked like after they got brought to the boil and cooked for approx one minute. Ridiculous.

All I can say is that they are not looking appetising. I remember the from children’s birthday parties many many years ago. Had forgotten about them. Hide them in a bun so that no one is any the wiser.

Eeek, the photo brings back horrible childhood memories. As I recall, there were two kinds of cheap pre-cooked sausages: saveloys, which were orange/brown and polonies, which were bright red. They both tasted the same, awful, and were only edible with the addition of much tomato sauce. I didn't know they were still produced.

I always thought they were made from the abattoir trimmings plus a huge proportion of cheap filler, but I don't really know. Does anyone know what they were made from?

I imagine the names came from "Savoy" and "Poland" but does anyone know?

I couldn't resist looking this up.

Saveloy: "its name comes from the Old Italian cervellato, pig brain, in turn from the Latin cerebrus, brain". Traditionally bright red and from North-East of England.

Polony: "Cockney shortening and vulgar pronunciation of Bologna (sausage)." Alarmingly, "Polony is large finely ground animal product which includes the intestines, meat, bones, hooves and most of the entire animal and the animal product is sourced from cows, pigs or chickens. Other ingredients are added to bulk up the product and give it its distinctive pink or orange colour and taste."

Ah, yes, key addition is tomato sauce.

Chris might be thinking of cocktail sausages (not allowed to say their true name che...rios because it's a trademarked name). Saveloys are much bigger, more like a fat sausage.

I'm always surprised when there is confusion over what saveloys are because they were so commonplace around here when I was growing up, and yet I'd never heard of polonies until Foodlovers start mentioning them, so obviously regional differences. Certainly there's always that old story about starving children being served saveloy soup (the water they were boiled in, which goes a bit colour tainted). I'd never heard of saveloy soup either until it started getting mentioned in the last few years. Saveloys must be reasonably well known because our supermarkets are stocked chock full of Hellers saveloys and that's what they're called.

As for ingredients, well, yes, they're rubbish, just like cheap sausages, but that's the whole point - cheap meat. They're basically luncheon sausage in a different shape. Esk Valley saveloy ingredient list: meat ((60%) lamb, mutton, beef, pork), water, flour (wheat), vegetable protein (soy), mineral salt (450), potato starch, flavour enhancer (621), acidity regulator (575), smoke flavour, antioxidant (316), spice extracts, preservative (250), flavouring [smoke flavour, emulsifier (433), acidity regulator 260]] No worse than any other processed item on the supermarket shelf.

Haven't had them for years. Frankfurters are our favourite, and have found they tend to split when being boiled - even when being watched. Then started doing them in the air fryer, and they are perfect, so I guess the same would apply for Saveloys?

Ah, cooking method, good point Irene. I don't have an air fryer. The proper saveloys didn't split (or very rarely) whereas Hellers are obviously rubbish in that regard. Hopefully Moore Wilson's will get some stock in soon and partner can try those.

We hadn't had saveloys for ages and at the time it was a case of something speedy, we had some in the freezer and we must have been more hungry than particular because I ate two. Husband ate more, but I won't go there. Ours seemed ok in taste and appearance. These are the Hellers Classic, they were the only ones I could find at NW. I just checked the freezer and there is another pack in there. Husband does some of the shopping so I can guess where they came from.

I have always put my saveloys into cold water and slowly bring up to a good simmer.

...and remember to prick the skins with a fork before immersing in water..

In defence of the humble saveloy, (which we often had at home in the weekend when I was young, slathered with copious quantities of tomato sauce and accompanied by white buttered bread, and I'm still alive), are they not just reminiscent of the current and very trendy 'nose to tail' eating movement, where every part of the animal is utilised because it is economically sensible and environmentally friendly to do so.

..and are saveloys any worse than haggis (made with internal organs), black pudding (blood), or dare I say it tripe?

Food for thought perhaps?

Regards,

Barbara Anne

J1, you are local to me, but I don't know if you grew up here. One of my memories was going to the Waingawa Freezing Works to get the family meat, and the cat food (gravy beef which we then had to cut into chunks for freezing... a hated job) the butcher always gave us a saveloy to have (cold).
I never boil saveloys or the smaller un-namable ones, just put into cold water and bring up to just under the boil, then let them sit for a few minutes to warm through. Haven't cooked them for years though, no kids parties to cater for these days. Eating those at kids parties was the only way I've ever been able to eat tomato sauce, I much prefer HP.

Hi Griz, yes grew up here. My family never went out to Waingawa to get our meat though, don't know why. I used to get ours from there sometimes as an adult, until it closed. I used to get sheep hearts for my cat (from the local butcher or supermarket) and didn't particularly enjoy cutting them up all the time either.....

The Moore Wilson savs turned out to be a 5kg frozen box with sticks (for hot dogs) already inserted, so they're out. I looked at the awful supermarket saveloys again and picked up one packet which said meat likely to be from one or more of the following countries and then came a long country list which included Finland!

Barbara Anne, pricking the skins is certainly worth remembering - I have done it to sausages but not to saveloys so will be worth a try to see if it prevents them from blowing themselves to bits. And yes, eating all the animal is not to be sneered at. My father used to enjoy eating lamb tongues - you could buy them tinned - and then, in the last five years they became impossible to buy. I emailed the company that used to put them in tins and they replied they were all sent overseas now. Other countries aren't so fussy about the odd bits of animals......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2023 03:59AM by J1.

Not that this is much help to you J1 but our local butcher makes his own saveloys and they seem to be ok according to my husband.


[www.halswellbutchery.co.nz]

jj, thank yoy. I actually found those earlier, as I thought perhaps I'd better look up if any nice ones are available through the internet and Halswell Butchery came up. Those saveloys in their website picture look EXACTLY how a saveloy should look so I was, like, YES! But then I looked up where Halswell is and it's Christchurch, so, oh well.... I'll have to move to Christchurch

J1, I know Homegrown Butchery in Kuripuni makes his own sausages and I have heard several people say how good they were, I wonder if he makes savs or perhaps might make a batch just for you?

Thanks Griz, they do have saveloys and we've tried them but, although they were fine enough, they weren't quite a match for the saveloys we were able to get alternatively at the time. But they might have to come into play again, now that Hellers seem to be the only option.

I dont particular like them and never buy them but my children often do for my grandies when they were little. Mainly the little red ones. The secret for no split skin is to cover them in boiling water from the jug, put lid on saucepan and let them stand for a while.. They are already cooked but just need heating up

That is a cooking method worth trying, thanks Noeleen. I was also going to see if steaming them in my steamer pan helped prevent the splitting. The silly thing is, all the previous saveloys I have been able to buy, which have now become extinct, didn't have a splitting problem, and it is only this rather awful packet of Hellers that has split within moments of being heated, and I am keen to not have to buy any more of them.

I NEVER boil my saveloys.....cut them in to pieces or leave whole and gently nuke in the microwave..........that way they don't burst out of their skins



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2023 06:02AM by Fleur.

Rather gadget-free kitchen here - no microwave either.......

Also being resident in the Wairarapa we always get our Saveloys at Solway Butchery. They are my husbands favourite. I am just hoping that this is not the Butchery that is downsizing.

Sue, yes, that is the butchery that is downsizing and no longer making saveloys! Awful news, isn't it.

Oh no that is terrible news. They are the best around. Always had to buy them in the morning as we arrived in Masterton because they would be sold out by afternoon. Let us know if you find another just as good.

Sue, I found these Blackball ones [www.blackballsalami.co.nz] which look and sound worthwhile - they are made in NZ from NZ meat (whereas Hellers is imported meat) and I saw that one of their stockists is Moore Wilson's. Unfortunately, our Moore Wilson's can't stock them because they come unpacked (which our local MW can't deal with, having no meat counter) but they are going to see if they can find a packaged saveloy from one of their other existing suppliers.

So, yes, I'll let you know if I find another saveloy.... I could buy one or two types off the internet but I really want to avoid all that packaging, etc.

Sue, Moore Wilson's are going to get in stock Beard Brothers Old School Saveloys - should have in store by middle of next week. Their website mentions saveloys but doesn't have a picture of them, so we shall see....and taste.... in due course. I did try some Beard Brothers sausages from the supermarket some time ago, but have never seen their saveloys stocked.

Coincidentally, prior to this thread starting I had tried in vain to replenish my freezer stock of Beard Brothers saveloys which I used to buy from PnS, the only local stockist. They were tasty and obviously contained meat, unlike the commonly available homogenised brands (like a meat version of surimi) which retailers still stock. I assumed the Beards may have gone the way of so many other items, as discussed in the Choice in Supermarkets thread and resigned myself to a sav-free existence.
However, not prepared to give up completely, a couple of days ago I checked Beard Brothers website (https://www.beardbrothers.co.nz/ ) to see if they still made them and, as J1 says, while they're mentioned in the About page, there's no image on their Products page. Cut a long story short: I phoned Beard Brothers and the good news is, as a result of "dozens of phone calls” they're resuming making them for winter and will be available for supermarkets to order from 1 May so should be in shops some time in May.. Check their extensive Stockist page to follow up with your nearest retailer.
Lynne2

Lynne2, thank you very much, very helpful. Decent saveloys will be such a coveted item at this rate, they'll start serving them at fine dining restaurants

I suspect that the cost of living increases have people reflecting on what they used to eat as a cheap meal, savs were one that featured on many plates in the 70's and 80's but had fallen from favour for many.

thanks for that J1. l look forward to trying these when MWs get them in stock

Hi J1. When we went to Masterton on Friday we noticed Solway Butchery was open so popped in to see what was happening and managed to buy a kilo of Savs. He told my husband that due to bad health he has had to cut back is hours but has managed to find someone to help with making product etc. So I would give it another try.

Sue, thanks so much, that's good news.