Devro NZ Sausage Competition. The Supreme Award - Alpine Pork Sausage

Devro NZ Sausage Competition. The Supreme Award - Alpine Pork Sausage

Congratulations to Countdown who have produced the 2015 Supreme Award winning sausage. It’s a traditional pork sausage, and in the terms of the competition a traditional pork sausage does not have any substantial additional ingredients to detract from the taste and flavour of the pork.

The Supreme Award was decided by re-tasting the winners of gold medals from the two regional events held a week earlier. This was followed by a barbecue where the announcement was made.

In seven weeks’ time I am participating in the Kepler Challenge, a race over the Kepler Track in Fiordland in the South Island. It’s normally a four day tramp but this is an event of 60km trail running with a few decent hills to make it interesting. As part of my training I headed into the Tararuas for a run yesterday. After ascending over a thousand vertical metres I was on the alpine tops. As I ventured along the track I was surprised to find nestled in the tussock two sausages, and further along the track a sausage was on top of a warratah. Warratahs are positioned along the track to act as markers for when snow present. I have been over this track in mid-winter when the snow was up to waist deep – on that day an ice axe and crampons were needed to cope in the alpine conditions.

 

Snarlers in the tussock

 

Snarler on a warratah

 

What a coincidence I thought on finding the sausages….. Of course I tasted them and concluded it must be the Alpine Pork from Countdown. It is a finely ground meaty tasting pork sausage. It was great to eat them after a hard climb up the ridge and onto the tops. Pork sausages are not my preferred sausage - I like something with a bit more flavour. However this is a magnificent example of the pork sausage. It will have a very wide appeal.

 

The view to Otaki Forks - the beginning of the run

 

For a complete list of the winners in the 2015 Devro NZ Sausage Awards, see this link.

Cost per kilo: $9.54

Devro NZ Sausage Competition 2105 – South Island Regional Judging

Devro NZ Sausage Competition 2105 – South Island Regional Judging

I was pleased to be invited back to judge at the Devro NZ Sausage Competition. Now in its twenty second year, the appeal of tasting, eating and discussing the merits of quality snarlers was very high. It will be no surprise that I have always been a fan of a good sausage. The growth of quality sausages over recent years is fantastic for sausage geeks such as myself, and this is also a bonus for the palates of the everyday sausage eater. I travelled to Christchurch for the day and judged the rounds and traditional flavoured sections of the competition.

I was an atheistic judge. At our table we had two butchers, the owner and chef of a well known Christchurch restaurant, and myself. The butchers were technical judges. It is interesting dissecting a raw sausage and then comparing its cooked form with another dissection. After the olfactory senses are stimulated by the aroma the most interesting part, tasting and eating, occurs. The key element in any sausage is the taste. I will do a post shortly were I will share the judging sheets and while you might find it hard to believe, the judges do have to work hard on the day. 

 

 

In the rounds we had a small number of black puddings and a white pudding. Black pudding is an underrated sausage in my view. A significant number of people think of the primary ingredient and then decline to sample. In my view they do not know what they are missing and we sampled an excellent range of puddings on the day.

In the traditional flavoured category, there were a large number of sausages with an equally wide variety of flavours. All judging is completed blind - the sausage is described and identified only by a number.

 

 

The gold medal winners have been announced and these sausages are off to Auckland for the final judging for the Supreme Award next week. In the categories I judged the gold medal winners were:

• Traditional Flavoured: New World Woolston – Pork, Fennel and Mint,
• Rounds: Hellers - Black Pudding

Having judged and eaten these sausages I can attest to their superior flavour and taste.

Between sausages we cleansed our palates, as a running mate said to me, "Do you use mashed potato to do this?"

The event was held at CPIT, Christchurch Polytech and at the end of the day I wandered into the centre of the city. There are swathes of empty blocks where commercial buildings once stood and multiple large building projects are underway as part of the post-earthquake rebuild. The cathedral looks forlorn. Anyone who lives in NZ will know there are a range of hotly contested views on whether to demolish the building or rebuild. Whatever the outcome it will be a big project.

 

  

I look forward to seeing the result of the Supreme Awards next Wednesday.

It is not all beer and sausages - Part Twelve

It is not all beer and sausages – Part Twelve

 

Lap one runners begin the steep descent to Governors Bay in Lyttleton Harbour

 

For the third consecutive year the NZ Road Relay championships were held over the Christchurch to Akaroa road course. This 74km, eight lap race is fantastic on a fine spring day, and yesterday was one of those days. The M50s from Scottish Harriers were light in numbers this year so we raced in the M40 grade with a wide array of ages in our team. I ran a flat leg of 9.4km in glorious running conditions, if anything it was too hot. I started off too fast and slowed towards the end kilometres, although I was pleased that I maintained an even pace over the last few kms. I was afraid that I might just run slower and slower, but I managed the last kilometre a tad quicker than the previous pace I had set. Although I had wanted to run faster I was satisfied with my time. I even managed to pass a couple of runners, while the speedy athletic juniors who ran a shorter course steamed past me at a great rate of knots.

Speedy John hands the baton over to me.

As I have identified in previous posts about this event some people turn up hoping for a medal - we turn up to have an enjoyable time. There were 14 teams in our grade and we were a minute off achieving a top ten placing. In relays you compete against teams that are running a comparable race to you. We were particularly keen to beat our club’s Senior Women’s team. Although the lead seesawed as the event progressed we were able to prevail, and arrive before they did at the Akaroa Recreation Ground.

 

Although we did not figure at the sharp end of the event, I have no doubt that we had the best selection of beer and sausages in our van. The sausages were the perennial favourite of kabanosy and a Polish kranksy from Park Avenue Quality Meats. The beer selection in the van was Epic Pale Ale, Founders Pale Ale and Speights. We were able to soak in the sun, enjoy the heat on our backs and even witnessed rams becoming a eunuchs in one the paddocks as we passed. It was a very enjoyable day of camaraderie and bonhomie.

 

 

The kabonosy sausage were very well received - they have a meaty taste and moderate level of smokiness which seem to have universal appeal among sausage eaters. Everyone in the van preferred the kabonosy, which is what I expected. The Polish kranksy with an initial mild garlic taste on the palate, is followed by a hint of pepper. The Epic Pale Ale was refreshing with a mild taste of hops.

It is only on driving back to Christchurch that the distance you have covered is really evident - it is a long way. Next year’s event is in Rotorua and we will look forward to running over a new seven lap course in 2016.  

For other parts of this series, see this index.

The view down to the finish and Akaroa Harbour.

 

Harrington's Smoked Chorizo

Harrington's Smoked Chorizo

I was at New World doing a grocery shop recently and the guy from Harrington’s was doing an in-store demo. A variety of Harrington's sausages were available for tasting. I have talked to this guy before and he informed me that Harrington’s are making a new smoked chorizo, which was on display in the ever expanding snarler section of Thorndon New World.　

Harrington's have rebranded the company, now under the logo it says artisan sausages. My definition of artisan is probably different from Harrington's. They do make a very good product, however they are a maker of lots of sausages. I consider that the term artisan means you can see the hand of the maker in the product. So I regard this addition to their logo as a marketing exercise, in much the same way as Lion or DB Breweries saying they are makers of craft beer.

 

 

At home my wife made pizza bases, that were cooked on a pizza stone in the oven. Our pizza had balsamic onions, mushrooms, capsicum, anchovies and the Harrington’s smoked chorizo.

 

 

The chorizo are primarily finely ground meat with a few lumps of a larger grind. They are a mixture of pork and beef. The meat is complemented the acidy of vinegar, while the hotness of paprika adds balance and complexity to the smokiness of flavour. There is an element of smoke but I would have preferred this to be more prominent. The heat from the paprika is on the hotter side, but not overpowering.　

These are a nice sausage that would appeal to the kiwi palate. If you are looking for a chorizo then this could be for you. I will buy these again.　

The boys made a pizza with ham and pineapple - the palates of youth. As parents we have tried to bring our kids up to appreciate a wide range of hopefully quality food, but when given the choice they make a bog standard ham and pineapple pizza. They don’t know what they are missing sometimes!

Rugby World Cup Bangers

Rugby World Cup Bangers

As I prepare to rise at 3.45am tomorrow morning to see the All Blacks play Argentina in the their first pool game of the Rugby World Cup, I may have a banger for breakfast.

Croots Farm Shop in Derbyshire have made a special snarler for the Rugby World Cup. Some of the sales from these sausages will go to the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre a charity that provides holidays for disadvantaged children. See this link for information about the sausages.

I have asked if Croots will courier some to NZ. I'm backing the All Blacks to bring home the bacon and the William Webb Ellis Trophy. Will this happen? All I know is that the TV will be watched, and sleep deprivation will exist for the next six weeks. Bring it on!

I watched the South Africa v Japan match this morning, I was delighted to witness the biggest upset in World Cup history, as Japan scored a great and very late try to win on the final whistle, 34-32. On a serious note it is interesting to observe that during a massive refugee crisis, Japan took less than five refugees last year. There are six rugby refugees from New Zealand in the Japanese team, players who would have loved to play for the All Blacks, but settle to play for the Cherry Blossoms, in the fluid world of rugby national allegiances. It would be great if Japan could fit in a few more real refugees too. Who knows what contribution they might make?

Black Pudding - Cameron Harrison

Black Pudding – Cameron Harrison

My wife purchased a Cameron Harrison black pudding for me recently as a treat and brought it home. It sat in the fridge for a few days and I cooked it up while I had a variation on moussaka cooking in the oven for the family dinner.

 

 

There are a mixture of textures in the black pudding, you can see the lumps of maize interspersed with finely ground material. The packing indicates that pork, bacon and pork blood are the three primary ingredients, in that order.

Once the pudding was cooked I cut it into slices. The initial taste was a sweet one, it was soft and malleable in the mouth and it didn’t really taste like a black pudding. There were elements of the pork and bacon and, quite late in the piece, the heat from the pepper and spices kicked in. It was a very pleasant black pudding to eat.

The boys were at home - Sausage Boy only had one piece and wasn’t too fussed about it, but his brother had multiple pieces and commented very positively about the sausage. The purchaser of the sausage never made it home in time to sample a piece, but was still asked to review this posting…... Typical!

I would buy this black pudding again, and next time I might even save some for my wife…..

Cost per kilo: $27.99

Litewska Kielbasa

Litewska Kielbasa

For dinner I cooked our old favourites, snarlers, with the comfort food of mashed potato and a bit of broccoli for colour - a satisfying mid-winter meal. I put a bit of horse radish sauce in the mashed potato during the mashing and this really enhanced the flavour. Delicious was the family judgement. I went with a couple of sausages that I buy that are the old favourites - chorizo criollo and Dutch braadworst. I was in Park Avenue Quality Meats and Gordon, the sausage maker, identified a new product he had made, Litewska kielbasa. It’s a Lithuanian sausage that Gordon made after a Chinese customer brought in a recipe.

There was a migration from Lithuania to China in the early part of the twentieth century. This led to the creation and development of the Harbin Red Sausage from China. Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang province, and the sausage from this area is more eastern European that Chinese. This Lithuanian recipe is similar in style to a Harbin Red.

 

 

 

The meat for this sausage comes from the pig’s head, tongue and heart. It is finely ground and the dominant flavour is smoke. I really enjoy a smoked snarler. The secondary flavours are a slight heat from spice, maybe pepper and paprika. There was also a hint of what I thought was probably cloves. I only had one of these sausages so I sliced the sausage into bite size pieces. They were consumed by the whanau who all rated the sausage highly. The boys gave it a higher rating than my wife but we all agreed it was sausage that was worth buying again.

I may sound like a tried record, or for the younger ones, a sample on loop, however if you are after the best sausages in Wellington that have an eastern European influence then there really is only one place you should go - Park Avenue Quality Meats in the Hutt. They continue their tradition of making fantastic tasty snarlers. There is not another sausage maker in Wellington who gets close to these guys. If you do not live in the Hutt, it is well worth a visit to this little butchers shop. You will not be disappointed.