Black Pudding - Eastbourne Village Meats

Black Pudding – Eastbourne Village Meats

Recently I purchased a black pudding Eastbourne Village Meats. I do enjoy black and white puddings, but as the whanau say, you just enjoy sausages. I consider that black pudding as a sausage style is much underrated and that many people would enjoy eating this particular variety of sausage if they tried it.

 

I cut the black pudding lengthwise and cooked it in the frying pan. I do like to be able to see chunks of ingredients in a sausage I eat. You could see lumps of maize and other elements in the sausage. When I tasted the pudding it was mild. The meatiness of the flavour was the initial sensation on the palate; this was then consumed by a mild heat. This black pudding was subtle in taste. It is not as peppery as other black puddings that I enjoy. Much like the beef and the pork and applecider snarlers in the previous reviews this is a black pudding that will be well liked. The flavours are mild and not over powering. I would buy this again.

 

Tuscan Sausage - Eastbourne Village Meats

Tuscan Sausage – Eastbourne Village Meats

The friendly butcher did not mention this sausage when I asked what sausages they had in the shop, and they were not in the display cabinet. After I had purchased the third variety he mentioned the Tuscan sausage that was in the chiller out the back. This was made from a recipe that someone had bought into the shop.

I like a coarsely ground sausage and that’s what this was. It cooked up well and the flavours of this sausage are great. It is a  mildly flavoured sausage with elements of garlic and white wine along with a slight taste of pepper.

I had three of these sausages. I ate two of them after cooking, and one cold the next day. All the sausages I ate hot had multiple pieces of gristle. The cold one I had the next day had a very large lump, it was half the size of my little finger nail. The tactile experience of chewing on hard lumps of indigestible something did detract from what could have been an excellent snarler.

I would not purchase this sausage again, unless I could be assured that there were no hard lumpy bits contained within the casing.

Eastbourne Village Meats are well worth a visit if you are out Eastbourne way. My favourite is still the Louisiana Reds and I also recommend the black pudding. However your individual taste will dictate which variety you prefer. Enjoy the trip around the harbour.

Pork and Cider Sausages - Eastbounre Village Meats

Pork and Cider Sausages – Eastbourne Village Meats

These sausages are a very nice snarler. I purchased four of these. These are a fine to medium ground sausage. The sweetness of the pork is complemented with a slightly tart taste of the cider. There are also elements of sweetness in the cider too.

Sausage Boy liked these sausages, and no one else in the family even got a look in! They are sausage that would appeal to those who enjoy a simply flavoured snarler.

I would buy these again.

Gold medal winner from Eastbourne

Gold medal winner from Eastbourne

 

 

 

Over the weekend I went to Eastbourne which is, not surprisingly, on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour. I do not venture into this pleasant seaside suburb on a regular basis, however when you get there you understand the appeal of the suburb to those who live there. During the visit I checked out the local butcher, Eastbourne Village Meats. I was keen to purchase some of the beef sausages that won a gold medal in the traditional beef section in the Devro NZ Sausage Awards last year. I also hoped they would have some Louisiana Reds in stock. These are a great sausage that I am keen to eat again. Sadly no Louisiana Reds were available. However I did not leave empty handed - the next few posts could be called the Eastbourne series as I walked out of the shop with four different types snarlers.

The beef banger is a nice sausage. It is a plain standard beef banger and, while I prefer pork, this banger will appeal to those who prefer a plain beef sausage. It has elements of a finely ground beef, interspersed with some medium ground beef.

 

 

I had a couple of these sausages cold with tomato sauce after a longer run on Sunday. They still taste good cold. Sausage Boy agreed with me - a very good beef snarler.

Cost per kilo: $15.95

Don's Sausage Blog Awards 2014

Don’s Sausage Blog Awards 2014

Each year I identify those sausages that I have reviewed and that have given me the most pleasure during the year. I have decided to take the less is more approach to these awards. Not too many awards, however the recipients are at the very top end of the sausages I like and enjoy eating. Life it too short to eat bad sausages, so if you are after a great snarler, here are the best ones I ate in 2014.

All the sausages awardees have been reviewed on this blog.

A drum roll please……………….

Don’s Sausage Blog Awards for 2014

The Undisputed Champion:

Pimenton: Zamora, Queenstown. I made an error when I brought some of these snarlers, the mistake was not buying more. This Argentinian style chorizo has layers of flavours and complexity on the palate when you eat it. It is a sausage that remains in the memory and leaves you wanting more. Reviewed May 2014 

A Close Runner Up:

Chicken Rocket and Cashew Sausages: The Fridge, New Plymouth. There are plenty of reasonable chicken sausages around, but to make an exceptional chicken sausages you need to have a great taste of chicken meat (as opposed to chicken flavour). This sausage excels in this. I contend this snarler is the best chicken sausage in the country – certainly the best I have tried that are currently being made. Reviewed June 2014 

Those that were in the mix and gain a worthy mention:

Venison Rost: Park Avenue Quality Meats. This is a venison and pork sausage that will appeal to a wide range of sausages eaters, on the continuum a little spicy with pepper and chilli added for flavour. A great snarler to eat. Reviewed February 2014.

Louisiana Reds: Eastbourne Village Meats. I purchased a few of these when I was out in Eastbourne one day and then went back for more but they did not have any in stock. These Cajun inspired sausages are subtly flavoured and leave you hankering for more. Reviewed June 2014.

NZ's Top Snarler - Beef and Blue, Allenton Meat Centre

NZ's Top Snarler - Beef and Blue, Allenton Meat Centre

Today they announced the Supreme Award in the Devro NZ Sausage Competition.

A beef and blue sausage from Allenton Meat Centre in Ashburton won this prestigious award. Congratulations to the team at this butchery.

I am very keen on eating sausages and also love cheese, I am quite partial to a bit of blue,
so I look forward to sampling this sausage in the future.

The gold medal winners from Wellington were Waikanae Butcher's, White Wine and Fennel. And the beef sausages from Eastbourne Village Butchers. Look out for a review.

The other medal winners from Wellington were Eastbourne Village Butcher's Black Pudding and Park Avenue Continental Meats, Polish Kielbasa. Those regular readers of the blog will know will know that I consider the sausages made at Park Avenue to be top quality. I was surprised to see that I have not reviewed these sausages.

For a full list of medallists see this link. Congratulations go to all the medal winners. As someone who acted as a judge in the South Island leg of the competition I can vouch for the quality of the winning sausages.

For a food writers view on the competition read this article from the NZ Herald. Catherine Smith writes eloquently about the experience.

If you do go to Eastbourne Butchers, I would recommend the Louisiana Reds. And if you are at Park Avenue the kabonosy and chorizo criollo are my favourites.

As the bbq season begins it is great to have a celebration of the best NZ sausages.

Coconut and Curry Sausages - Eastbourne Village Meats

Coconut and Curry Sausages – Eastbourne Village Meats

I was in Eastbourne recently and thought I would purchase some more Louisiana Reds, see link. However, the butcher informed me that they did not have any. They did have some curry and coconut sausages on display, so I thought let’s buy some of these and give them a try instead.

These are hearty big sausages. They are pork sausages and made with coconut cream and curry. When smelling them prior to cooking you could smell the aroma of the meat, this dominated the spices.

 

 

They cooked up nicely. There was a little oozing from the end of the casing. This sausage is a fine to medium grind. On my palate I could not detect the coconut and the curry is slight and not particularly pronounced. I cooked these as a pre dinner snack. Three of them disappeared and I took one to work for lunch the following day.

 

 

The boys said they were ok, but they liked other sausages better. I would agree with this sentiment. We all agreed that a nice Louisiana Red is the sausage of choice from the Eastbourne Village Meats, so far.

Cost per kilo $17.95

Beef Sausages - Eastbourne Village Meats

Beef Sausages – Eastbourne Village Meats

Also refer to the previous post.

 

 

 

The friendly butcher told me the mince he was selling was similar to the meat that goes into these sausages. If you use quality meat you get a quality product. These beef sausages have beef as the primary flavour. The butcher said they add a small amount of ginger and a few secret spices and herbs the mix to enhance the flavour.

 

 

These were cooked up at the same time as the Louisiana Red sausages, see link. They were not as popular, However they are meaty pleasant tasting beef sausage.

But then I would choose to eat a pork sausage over a beef sausage on most days.

Cost per kilo: $13.95

Louisiana Reds - Eastbourne Village Meats

Louisiana Reds - Eastbourne Village Meats

I went out to Eastbourne recently on a "hunter gather" mission as a few people have mentioned the sausages made at the local butcher’s shop, Eastbourne Village Meats, to me. This shop looks and feels like a traditional butcher’s shop. When I went I talked to the butcher and found him to be friendly and obliging. When it came to asking more detailed questions about the sausages I was purchasing, he said they had a few trade secrets that he would not share with me. I purchased four Louisiana Red Sausages. This is an interesting name for a sausage, my thoughts where Cajun food, gumbo and jambalaya along with zydeco music, and a bit of the blues.

 

 

This is a healthy looking sausage, smaller eaters may consider it a meal in itself. There is a large portion in each sausage. The butcher told me that this pork sausage has chilli, cayenne, garlic, black pepper and parsley added to the sausage meat to bring out that southern USA flavour.

 

 

The sausages did not have a strong aroma. They smelt of the meat, the spices could not be detected when I smelt them. It was a very pleasant smell.

The sausages cooked up nicely. A bit is sausage meat oozed out the casing. The real test came in the eating. These sausages were soft, the filling inside the casing was spongy, and this is unusual for a sausage. It made eating them a pleasure. The sausage meat was malleable between the teeth and it slipped down the gullet easily. Some sausages require a lot of chewing but these are at the other end of spectrum.

When I think of food from Louisiana, I think of hot and spicy. These sausages are mild with a subtle hint of spice. There is a stronger after taste of cayenne and chilli, but this is not pronounced. This sausage is a coarse to medium grind. It goes down nicely. The boys had one each, and wanted more. They thought this was really good sausage. However I had eaten one for quality control and was onto the second one by the time they requested more. It pays to be fast in our house. I have a saying when it comes to food, "there are the slow and the hungry."

This is an excellent sausage and when next in Eastbourne I will buy some more.

Cost: $17.95 per kilo