Uppercuts Butchery owner Nathan Kean won a gold and bronze award for his loin bacon at the 100% New Zealand Bacon and Ham Awards held in Auckland last Wednesday night.
This was the second time the Winton man had won a gold prize for his dry cured pork.
The talented butcher won his first gold in the national competition in 2023.
Mr Kean said he was rapt to pick up two prizes and was relieved all the work he had put into the competition had paid off.
"It was really good to be recognised amongst our peers," he said. "It shows that all of our hard work had paid off."
Months of "trial and error" led to the medal wins in the rib rocker and middle eye bacon sections.
"It’s quite a creative, inventive process. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes they don’t work.
"Over time we’ve perfected and changed things . . . you [just] want to have the best products for your customers," he said.
He credited manuka wood chips from the West Coast as an excellent material for smoking the cured meat.
Using a barbecue-flavoured rub made by a North Island company took the taste of the meat "to another level", he said.
Mr Kean attributed his medal success to investing in state-of-theart equipment and for having a great team behind him.
"We’ve put a lot of time into this business and the machinery and the great staff is what makes the difference."
He was looking forward to the next competition and said it would be his opportunity to achieve a supreme award.
The national butchery awards are run by Retail Meat New Zealand and celebrate the country’s finest pork goods, produced from 100% New Zealand-born and raised pork from PigCare accredited farms.
