The review team here at Fabulous Farm Shops takes its job seriously but when a new product arrives in HQ exclamations of “ooh” and “aaah” , even squeals of “eeeek” and, on one occasion, a little Irish jig have been witnessed at the unboxing stage. This is particularly so when an innovative product arrives, something none of us have ever seen before and, may we say, something we did not know that any of our lives were missing….but, ooh aah and eek, things change.
The good folk at Sizzll love their sausages and have been pondering for years how to stop a banger rolling about on its tray, wallowing in its own grease. We know what they mean – that annoying sausage which will not turn over and cook its undercarriage no matter how nicely you try and coax it over with your tongs.
And after you have cooked, eaten, rubbed your belly with satisfaction, you then have the pain of washing up the grill pan or tray and scraping off the baked on grease in a sink which is rarely big enough to accommodate the pan.
If these things have been putting you off your Sunday breakfast, then may we introduce you to the Sizzll.
Unboxing the trays from their packaging, we were struck by their ergonomic beauty. Perhaps that’s a funny thing to say about a tray to cook sausages in but they are hard to resist. “Strokable” was a word that emerged from one member of the team. “Ooh shiny” was another response (she does have rather magpie-esque tendencies!)
Coming in four choices of finish, there is one for every kitchen and just on looks alone, we would recommend them as a fabulous gift for the cook who thinks they have everything! Shiny stainless steel for the minimalists out there and three different coloured enamel finishes for the country kitchen enthusiasts among you (cream, racing green or black).
Pre Christmas and yet to fill up on turkey and pigs in blankets, we chose our weapons and each took a Sizzll home with us to try out.
One of our wonderful local farm shops, Kimbers’ Farm Shop in Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, had provided us with some of their delicious, free-range pork sausages for us to use in the Sizzll pans, so we were all set to ready, steady, cook.
There is room in the tray for eight sausages and each one sits in its own perfectly formed little bed. The shallow grooves hold the sausage in place and make it exceptionally easy to turn them once whilst cooking. These little built in walls are shallow to allow even cooking and the sausages are held slightly higher than the rest of the basin so that the fat from the sausage (should your sausage have a high fat content) sits in the depressions and is held away from the meat, making the sausage healthier. “More fun. Less fat” is the first half of Sizzll’s slogan!
In our separate kitchens across the South West, we all stared through the glass of our ovens (you can use a grill too!) and watched our sausages sizzle on their Sizzlls. And we all, unanimously, thoroughly enjoyed turning them over half way through their cooking time. A quick flick-over was simple. Not a single stubborn sausage rolled back and refused to turn, not a single expletive was uttered, not a single sigh heard. The Sizzll certainly solves the rolling sausage issue.
When the cooking time was up, the sausages lifted easily out of the pan. Again there was a unanimous verdict that nothing stuck to the tray, not a sausage (do you see what I did there?!) One reviewer went so far as to say:
“After being quite sceptical about the Sizzll tin, I was really pleasantly surprised and, can I say, almost excited by the outcome. The sausages looked beautifully plump, and nicely browned; most importantly they weren’t sat in their own fat, and didn’t stick to the tin, pulling off the all important crisped skin. The sausages looked like very smart uniformed soldiers, all lined up in the very attractive Sizzll tin”
It’s a tough job but we managed to eat the sausages up (thanks again to Kimbers’ for our delicious teas) so that we could test the Sizzlls for their third and final claim…Less faff. Washing up time!
Washing up the grill pan is one of those jobs that everyone in my house fights over…fights over avoiding. “Sorry mum, I have so much homework tonight.” “Sorry mum. My fingers are really sore from watching tik tok”. “Sorry darling. I’m rushing out to…do anything that’s not washing up”.
Excuses, excuses.
Well, this pan is a joy to clean. Let me tell you that this could be the new THING…staying in to wash up your Sizzll could be the new going out.
Every member of the review panel said how incredibly easy it was to wash the pan. The grease pours away easily and then a bit of a soak and a brush and the grease lifts away from the tray leaving it completely, and I mean completely, clean… none of that baked on brown stuff that seems to linger on anything else I put in the oven. Beautiful! Obviously, they also go in the dishwasher too but, trust me, you might actually choose to do it by hand, it’s so good! A great example of British-made quality. Hoorah.
SO there you have it. More fun. Less fat. Less faff.
We are living proof that the slogan is correct. These innovative pans make cooking your sausages a very, very pleasant experience and they look good in your kitchen. They are also suitable for one pan cooking so you could throw in your mushrooms, tomatoes, parsnips and carrots with your sausages to cook together and save time and washing up.
They have a fairly substantial price tag (retailing between £24 and £35, depending on the finish you choose) but 95% of the reviewers said they would absolutely love to receive one as a gift (even the vegetarian!) and the other 5% doesn’t like sausages and never does the washing up!
To take a look at the Sizzll website click here
You can order your own Sizzll pan direct here
or get in touch here if you would like to stock Sizzll pans in your own shop
If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact
theAteam@fabulousfarmshops.co.uk
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