Hellers Chicken Parmigiana Gourmet Sausages product reviews

I was recently at the local Home Show where Hellers was presenting their Chicken Parmigiana sausages, amongst other goodies. My husband is not a big fan of cooked tomato so I was very interested to gage his reaction to these sausages. It was a great opportunity to try before I buy, with the most fussy eater tagging along at the time. We each tried a bite of the barbequed morsels and agreed that the flavour was good. My husband confirmed that they were edible.

Roll on to a couple of weeks ago, I saw a pack of these sausages sitting in the freezer on clearance for over half price. So I snapped those babies up! I bought them home and made them up for dinner. Usually I would do something like devilled sausages. But these are specially flavourful sausages so that was not going to do. I cooked up some nice soft noodles (I was out of spaghetti). And then I made up a sauce with lemon and garlic and olive oil. I didn't want the sauce to overpower the meal. I also didn't want to serve up a plate of tomato sauce with tomato flavoured sausages to my cooked tomato hating hubby.

I served the meal to my family with a selection of steamed vegetables and we got down to eating. My daughter ate a few pieces of the sausage, but was more interested in the noodles. This was too be expected as she is not keen on meat anyway. My husband liked the meal but thought the sauce could have been more interesting. The sausages shined taste-wise though and that was what mattered. I liked them a lot, though I wish I had something more interesting to do with them. I have another pack in the freezer already, just waiting for my imagination to kick in.

I had seen these advertised and talked about on the Hellers Facebook page and last week at the supermarket they were on special (2 packs for $10.00). I hummed for ages about what flavours would suit my family the best in case they had strong flavours so settled for the chicken parmigiana ones and the cheese ones (in another review!) These have the heath tick so great to take to a BBQ and i like this because i know they are ok for my children to eat.

The packaging looks very modern and appealing and it draws your attention. 6 sausages for $7.99 i find a bit expensive but for the sale price i thought it was good. On the front of the package i didn't see that these were precooked sausages and because i had chosen to cook in the pan not the BBQ (the mans job!) i was worried if they had cooked all through. I ended up overcooking them as i thought i needed to 'cook' the meat. I had since thrown the pack out before i went to list and write the review - but i presume it states this on the back - **note to self: always read the instructions!!**

I was disappointed with the texture and flavour of these. They had a processed/gritty texture and didn't have a lot of taste, especially no strong Italian flavour. They did taste a bit herby and you could see the herbs in the sausage. These were quiet dry but i did cook them for as long as you would a normal meat sausage. We just had them on their own with salad. The back of the packet gives you ideas of how to use them such as slice on pizza or in a pasta.

Overall i wouldn't purchase this flavour again, i thought it lacked the flavour it suggests and to me isn't a "gourmet" sausage if its precooked and has a gritty texture. I also believe that on the front "precooked" needs to be stated so people like me can read it! On a brighter note - i really enjoyed the cheese version of these sausages!