More than a simple snag

On Friday, 20 butchers, chefs and food writers spent a day tasting sausages in Christchurch at the first South Island heat of the annual Devro New Zealand sausage competition. The winners from this and the North Island heat will go into the final in Auckland on October 14.

Under the watchful eye of head judge Kerry Tyack, I was on a panel assessing Continental ready-to-eat and black and white puddings with two butchers, who specialised in the technical side - the filling, the meat-to-fat ratio, the texture, with no bits of bone, gristle or skin - and a chef who with me specialised in the aesthetic side, the flavour, aroma, texture and eye appeal.

This category included everything from a wonderful fermented chorizo bierstick with complex flavours (the winner) through cheesy kranskies and a smoked salmon salami to highly processed, cheap, skinless frankfurters with little flavour.

 


South Island medallists

Continental Fresh Category: New World Nelson City, Boerewors
Continental Ready-To-Eat Category: Euro Gourmet Meats, Chorizo Biersticks (Christchurch)
Flavoured Category: Agora, The Good Food Shop, Traditional Beef Flavoured (Dunedin)
Gourmet Category: Allenton Meat Centre, Beef & Blue Cheese (Ashburton)
Pre-cooked/BBQ Category: Hellers, Super Savoury
Pre-cooked Poultry Category: Peter Timbs Meats, Moroccan Chicken (Christchurch)
Rounds Category: Blackball Salami, Black Pudding
Saveloy/Polony/Cocktail Category: Hellers, Original Cocktail
Traditional Beef Category: Harris Meats, Old English Beef (Cheviot)
Traditional Flavoured Category: Foodstuffs South Island, Pams Fresh Express Pork, Apple & Sage
Traditional Pork Category: Raeward Fresh Nelson, Premium


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