Aussies prevail on Waitangi Day with a sweet and spicy Italian number.

Aussies prevail on Waitangi Day with a sweet and spicy Italian number.

On Waitangi Day I headed off to the stadium to see NZ play Australia in a one day cricket match. I am always keen to see us take on the Aussies. Unfortunately, from a NZ perspective, wins against the arrogant men in yellow (or as the Australians would say, gold) are not all that common. That does mean that when NZ wins the victory is very sweet.

This was the second of a three match series and NZ had comprehensively won the first game. Beware the wounded Aussie.

 

 

The weather was great and we had seats on the sunny side of the stadium. Watching sport in the afternoon sun is one of life’s great delights. Although NZ batted adequately you did wonder at the innings break if they were 20-40 runs light. After an impressive opening stand by Australia the game was already in the bag, and they duly batted their way to victory.

 

 

I had brought some snarlers to nibble on during the game. These were sweet and spicy Italian sausages from Cameron Harrison. These are a medium to coarse ground sausage which has good texture in the mouth. They are made of a beef and pork blend. Added to this is a complex and balanced flavour achieved by paprika, hints of pepper and a piquant of fennel. There are also other flavours that I could not distinguish. This sausage is a great eater. It achieves this by having layers of flavour that complement each other. It will not be to everyone’s liking - it does have heat, but this is not too strong. My mate said to me as he munched on a snarler - this certainly tantalises and awakens the tonsils. Another one commented that this was as hot a sausage as they would want to eat.

I consider this sausage to be the best sausage I have brought from Cameron Harrison. It is similar in style to the Italian Banderia made by Westmere Butchery in Auckland.

So it was an enjoyable day sitting and watching cricket on a beautiful warm Wellington day. The result was not to my liking; however this was ameliorated by consuming some very enjoyable sausages.

And in the final match of the series NZ prevailed. After looking gone for all money NZ clawed back and beat the Aussies to retain the Chappell – Hadlee Trophy. Happiness reigns.

Cost per kilo: $20.99

It is not all beer and sausages - Part Thirteen

It is not all beer and sausages – Part Thirteen

The Kepler Challenge

I write this from Te Anau in Fiordland, as yesterday I completed the Kepler Challenge. This is a 60km mountain run, with a few good sized hills to make it interesting. The event follows the route of the Kepler Track, which is a four day tramp. My watch informed me I had ascended over 1600 metres by the time I finished.

The weather was looking dodgy all week leading up Saturday and at the briefing on Friday night they said gales - which means six metre waves in Foveaux Strait. If it was severe gales we would not be sending you over the tops, however the good news, we were told, is - it is only gales. Snow was forecast to fall above 800 to a 1000m. At the high point of the event you are at 1500m. It looked like it would be a fun day.

As it was not an optimal day for photos, I pilfered a few from the net, to demonstrate what the view can be like on a good day.

The weather on the day was good, with a gusty wind that was not too bad. As I come from Wellington I am used to strong winds so this didn’t worry me too much. Thankfully there was no snow, although we did get a hail shower that helped exfoliate the bare legs, as we headed over the tops.

The highlight for me was going over the tops. Although the claggy cloud came and went, and sometimes the wind blew strongly, the view was fantastic; seeing the dark grey blues of the lakes, Te Anau and Manapouri, along with the greens and browns of the precipitous slopes above the bush line as they headed to high snow topped peaks, being able to see many definitions of ridges, one behind the other as the mountains went into the distance, all made for a magnificent sight.  

I felt good for the first six hours. I considered I was running within myself and had reserves left for the last section. I was aiming to complete the event in around ten hours, however I slowed during the last twenty kilometres and ended up doing 10 hours 47 minutes. I was satisfied, even though I had slowed I always knew I was going to finish, and I was well ahead of the cut off times. Like all previous posts about running, I came near the rear of the field. You had to write a small comment on your entry for the finishing announcer to say as you neared the finish line. Mine was: A specialist back of the field runner, his role is to make other people look good. The announcer kindly told me I had succeeded in my mission.

At the end of the event, I was looking forward to beer and sausages. Unfortunately it was raining, and was not particularly pleasant at the finish line, so my wife and I hopped in the car and went back to our accommodation in Te Anau. There I had lamb and mint sausages from Cameron Harrison. These snarlers have a good minty aroma, the combination of chunky grind lamb with a nice balance of mint went down well after a knackering run. This was washed down by a pale ale from the Herne Brewing Company based in Tapanui, Western Otago. It was called Tane – a manuka smoked pale ale. This beer has elements of bitterness that are complemented by sweet smoky malt. It went down easily after the exertions of the day and both were very enjoyable. 

So at the end of a hard day, the body deserves replenishing, and what better way to do this that with beer and sausages.

Today I am quite stiff and sore, however as the week goes on I know I will recover and look back with pleasant memories and a sense of satisfaction and achievement about the run, the beer and of course the sausages.

Will I be back for another foray to the deep south to complete the Kepler Challenge? Or will I seek new adventures? 

 

For links to the rest of this series click here. 

The Celebratory Breakfast - Whew!

The Celebratory Breakfast – Whew!

We had friends round to watch the final of the Rugby World Cup so the alarm was set for 4.40am. I didn’t think I could stumble out of bed at 4.58am and wander into the lounge in a state of semi undress with guests present, so I wore my lucky All Blacks jersey - the one I wore to the 2011 final. To date this has a 100% strike rate – after today I’ll be wearing it for a while…..

 

 

The tension was high. The tries either side of half time made it feel comfortable before the Aussies put us back on the edges of our seats by coming back from 21-3 down to 21-17. However, as the second half drew to a close, we shut them out, and with a late try to Beauden Barrett the score was 34-17 at the final whistle. There was unrestrained joy in the room.

One of our guests was texting her daughter who was in rehearsals for a theatre production in Pittsburgh, USA. She had half her mind on the production, and half on her NZ heritage.

 

 

 

Soon after the final whistle, I started on the cooking a breakfast of champions. We had black pudding, chorizo criollo and bacon from Park Ave Quality Meats, chicken lemon and sage sausages from Cameron Harrison, hash browns and eggs. For those wanting a cold breakfast there was bircher muesli and yoghurt. Most people washed this down with champagne and orange juice, or a plain juice.

The black pudding, an old English recipe, won a bronze medal at the recent Devro NZ Sausage Awards. It is a mixed texture pudding, very large chunks and finer parts within the casing. It has a soft texture in the mouth - the flavours are pleasant and quite mild. Our daughter is at home for the weekend - she wanted to know if she could take some leftover black pudding back to her flat. Although not everybody sampled it, those who did really enjoyed the taste and flavours.

 

 

The chicken sausage has elements of lemon and sage complementing the chicken. One guest was especially effusive about this snarler. Lemon is not a flavour I particularly like, however this is a quality chicken sausage that will appeal to those who like some lemon tartness to accentuate the chicken.

The guests all enjoyed my favourite sausage, the chorizo criollo. These are always good.

The mood of the breakfast was joyful as we talked over the match, and wondered where to from here? Both my wife and I and another couple mused about the possibility of a trip to Japan in four years’ time…. Somehow I think sausages probably won’t be on the menu for breakfast if we are there.

Cost: Chicken lemon and sage - $21.99kg.

Black Pudding - $16.99 for a tube.

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

Superior Suasages - Sunday Magazine

Superior Sausages – Sunday Magazine

Sam Mannering is a new food writer for the Sunday Magazine. This little magazine arrives with the Sunday Star Times newspaper each weekend. The magazine has a distinctly girlie feel, and I generally flip through it pretty quickly. However I do look at the recipes and this week there was a page titled Superior Sausages. Sam Mannering has good taste - he identifies Salumeria Fontana from Wellsford, Grey Lynn Butchers, Westmere Butchers, Moore Wilsons in Wellington, and in Christchurch he names Peter Timbs and Ellesmere Butchery as places where you can buy superior snarlers. I consider that both Park Avenue Quality Meats and Island Bay Butchers should also be on his list. If Sam wants to give the aura of a serious writer about snarlers, he should be able to identify the top butcher’s shops in Wellington. But hey, this a magazine that has an Auckland focus.

 

Sweet and Spicy Italian Sausage

 

Sam poses the often asked question: What is your favourite sausage? Or what is the best sausage? This is a poorly worded question. It is similar to asking an oenophile what is their favourite or best wine. There are a myriad of great sausages out there. And out of the many great sausages, some rise to the champion level. Over the last few decades the quality of sausages you can source has improved immensely. And if you go by my motto – life to too short to eat bad sausages - you can derive great pleasure from eating some beauties.

 

 

Mexican Chorizo

Sam Mannering provides a recipe for superior sausages. I liked this simple and easy recipe. Use 1.5kg of tomatoes, 500g of snarlers, add some cannelloni beans, roughly chopped garlic, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and some rosemary, oregano and thyme. Bake and serve. Easy to prepare and quick to cook.

I made two dishes with some Cameron Harrison sweet and spicy Italian sausages, and Heritage Meat Company Mexican chorizo. When they came out of the oven, Sausage Boy (who is now taller than his mother and catching up to me) said it smelled delicious. This is a wholesome autumnal treat. The tomatoes were great, we used larger and cherry tomatoes, the beans added a bit of mushiness to the texture and the balsamic added a slightly bitter tang. The whanau enjoyed the meal, they thought the aroma was better than the actual eating, however the proof is in the eating and it was agreed that I should cook this dish again.

For a review of the Mexican chorizo click here.

The sweet and spicy Italian sausages are good. They are a medium to coarse grind. They are a pork and beef sausage, there is the sweetness of the pork, accentuated by basil, coriander and oregano, there are elements of tartness that come from the red wine vinegar and then, as an aftertaste, elements of heat from chilli and smoked paprika kick in. I enjoyed this complex tasting sausage and would buy this again. Cost per kilo: $24.95

I purchased both sausages from Moore Wilsons.

England Masticated

England Masticated

Today I went to see New Zealand playing England in the ICC’s Cricket World Cup. While NZ were the favourites, no one would have predicted the humiliation that was forced onto England. However I guess if minnow teams are going to be part of the tournament then you have to expect some lop sided results.

 

 

 

 

 

NZ destroyed England to have them all out for 123 in around 30 overs. Tim Southee produced NZ’s best ever one day bowling figures of 7-33. Then Brendon McCullum came out with a 25 ball score of 77, including the fastest 50 in World Cup history. It was all over so quickly. What a game! A great crowd, inside a sold out stadium, coupled with magnificent Wellington weather.

 

                                     

I brought some English pork sausages to game. I had hoped for mastication both in the stands and on field. The NZ cricket team delivered and I managed to play my part and do this in the stands. These snarlers were brought from Cameron Harrison in Kelburn, they are pure pork. They are a standard pork sausage where meat is the dominant flavour. The sweetness of the pork is stronger when eaten hot, however it does linger when eaten cold at the cricket. A good pork banger that will have a wide appeal. Kids would love these.

So the English pork sausages were like the English cricket team, masticated, and well pulverised, before being vanquished.

Cost per kilo: $16.99

Garlic and Red Wine Sausages at the Sevens

Garlic and Red Wine Sausages at the Sevens

I headed off the Rugby Sevens tournament in Wellington on Saturday. This is a fun, dress up, party atmosphere seven a side rugby tournament held annually at the stadium. I decided to take along some sausages to sustain myself and my friend during the day and into the evening.

 

I went to Cameron Harrison in Kelburn and bought some garlic and red wine sausages. The butcher told me they are pork sausages and if you like a strong garlic taste you will enjoy these. When I opened the bag at home there certainly was a strong garlic aroma, which is just as well as I like garlic. When handled these sausages the butcher gave me the impression they had been made some time ago. They were sticky and did not handle like a freshly made sausage, however they smelt fine. So I cooked them up.

 

 

These sausages are a medium grind sausage. They are small in length and diameter. A nice snacking size for a snarler.

As per usual there was quality control. My son sampled one and said, "These are good." I had to stop him grabbing a second one. My wife also had one and thought the sausage tasted very nice. Garlic is the dominant taste and this goes nicely with the pork flavour. The overriding taste of garlic means the red wine is not discernible on the palate. These are a very nice eating sausage and I will buy these again.

Cameron Harrison has two shops, one in Kelburn and another in Ngaio. They are a quality butcher’s shop. They make a variety of quality sausages that come from a traditional recipe base.

 

New Zealand v Canada in the quarterfinal

 

 

 

So how did the sausages go at the sevens? In between rugby, revelry and a rowdy good time, they went down well. New Zealand beat England in the semi-final, and South Africa in the final - a great result as the crowd of pirates, prisoners and sumo wrestlers sang and danced the evening away.

It is not all beer and sausages - Part Five

It is not all beer and sausages – Part Five

Yesterday I ran in the Jumbo-Holdsworth race. This is a 23km mountain run with a nice run along a river valley, some serious climbing as you head from Atiwhakatu Hut to the peak at Jumbo, along the ridge from Jumbo to Mt Holdsworth and then downhill to the finish. I knew my legs were tired and not is great shape so I took it easy along the valley. I felt alright as I climbed 900 vertical metres to the summit of Jumbo. I even passed a few people on the ascent. Between Jumbo and Holdsworth there are three climbs and it was only on the second climb along the ridge that my legs started to say, "Hey mate, we feel stuffed." However, being able to see the trig that marks Mt Holdsworth, you tell your legs to keep on going and soon you arrive. I arrived at the end with a slower time than when I last completed the race, but my second quickest time for the seven times I have run the event. I was happy to have finished.

Below is an old photo of the ridge between Jumbo and Mt Holdsworth. I took this when I was tramping with my sons quite a few years ago. The Mt Holdsworth trig is indicated by the arrow.

 

 

So when you reach the finish, what is the reward? The answer is the same as the last time: beer and sausages. There is a BBQ put on for all contestants and I brought two lots of sausages to share with friends. The old faithful Park Ave Quality Meats, kabanosy, see link, and a new sausage I had purchased from the Kelburn shop of Cameron Harrison Butchers, the Black Rock pork sausage. The butcher in the shop told me it was made by Cameron Harrison using a recipe from an Auckland butcher. This sausage had won awards, he told me. When I asked what they were, he did not know. Sadly this was a continuation of previous conversations I have had with the staff who work for Cameron Harrison. They have poor product knowledge, and Cameron Harrison really needs to do something about it if they want their staff to do justice to the quality sausages and other meats they sell.

 

The finish chute

 

The Black Rock pork sausage is pure pork. It tastes good, and when I cooked (and sampled) them the night before, the sweetness of the pork was the paramount flavour. It is a medium grind and tastes good between the teeth - you know you are eating a quality pork sausage. I will buy this sausage again.

 

Black Rock pork sausages

 

The runners who ate the sausages thought the kabonosy was the best, they liked the smokiness. This flavour remains when the sausages are cold. The Black Rock pork sausages were also appreciated. The flavour of the pork is not as marked when cold so these sausages are best eaten while warm. You can see I left the fine china and silver cutlery at home. A plastic bag and fingers make for great eating.

 

Kabonosy

 

I talked with the winner of the race, he runs for the same club as I do.  They then announced the race was about to begin, line up! He headed for the front row, while I jostled with other runners for one of the back marker spots. I offered the winner a sausage at the end of the race and strangely he declined. He obviously does not appreciate the merits of the innovative and ground breaking sausages and running regime that I have been experimenting with. It really works and I would encourage all runners to come on board and see how much you can improve.

 

 

We also rehydrated with a Hancock’s & Co. Grand Pale Ale. This is a medium sweet beer with a full round flavour. It has nice well balanced after taste on the palate. An ideal rehydration drink, made more enjoyable by the pleasant picnic like surroundings.

 

 

So with a relaxing picnic on a glorious summer’s day we concluded the event. There was talk about the next event, the Tararua Mountain Race in six weeks’ time. By then the pain will have subsided, the legs will not be sore and the bruises will have healed. Like maniacs who go back for more, we will line up and spend our Saturday running through the bush again.

 

For links to other parts of this series.

Black Rock pork sausage; Cost per kilo $19.99

It is not all beer and sausages - Part Three

It is not all beer and sausages – Part Three

This weekend I was off to the highlight of the harrier season, the NZ Road Relays. This was held on the Sign of the Takahe to Akaroa route, 76km of varied terrain, run by a team of eight. This course is rightly regarded as the best relay course in NZ. Some teams turn up to win or medal. Our team sorted out our goals before the race - to have a good time and enjoy ourselves. I offered to bring sausages to feed the team.

It would be fair to say that the mighty M50 (men over 50) from Scottish Harriers would not put fear into the opposition with our running prowess. I ran the lap from hill top to Duvauchelle, which concludes with a long 5km of steep downhill. It hammers the legs and feet and I was knackered when I reached the finish. My legs and feet were sore and at the end of my stretch my team mates asked me how many toenails I had lost. I said my feet were sore and took off my shoes. In the supportive way we worked together, they said, ‘There’s no blood in your shoes, stop moaning and get into the van."

At the finish the announcer said, "Here come Scottish’s M50A team, the first finishers in the M50 grade….." What is omitted is, "from the 8.30am start." Most of the M50 teams started at 9.15am.

 We did not come last, and we were not close to the medals. However I can confidently say that we had the best selection of beer and sausages in our van. The teams had to carry a baton over the course - our team abandoned the baton supplied by the organisers and replaced it with a kabonosy.

I cooked the sausages the day before our race. Not knowing my team members preference for sausages I brought a variety - kabonosy from Park Ave Quality Meats, (See review), pork and fennel from Island bay Butchery, (see review) and Cumberland from Cameron Harrison Butchers. From left to right, kabonosy, Cumberland, Sremska and pork and fennel. 

Comments from the learned, if tired, runners in the van: these are good, a very nice flavour, smell good and not too over powering. This was the kabonosy. One team member, in a moment of madness, even offered to run another lap if I could find him another sausage to munch on.
 

The sausages were appreciated and went down well after each team member completed their lap. The Cumberland were appreciated for the meaty taste, the pork and fennel for their flavour. The consensus was the most preferred sausage of the day was the kabonosy. I shared the sremska (see review) on the way back to Christchurch, but this did not have too many takers. I gave these out in smaller morsels. It is a spicier sausage and received comments about the strong taste.

Of course a refreshing drink was needed to rehydrate and in the van a selection of beers were present, Macs Pale Ale, Tsingtao and a Bismark Brown Ale made by Hancock and Co. This is a malty, hoppy, slightly bitter brown ale, best drunk cold, rather than after being in the van for many hours. However as a post race refresher it meets the mark.

So the team had a very enjoyable jaunt from Christchurch to Akaroa. There were a lot of laughs, ribbing, jokes and irreverent comments about our respective running ability, while racing against other teams of a similar pace. There was a great spirit of camaraderie, enhanced by the snacking on sausages and beer.

We will all be back next year for what will undoubtedly be another highly unsuccessful attempt at a NZ title, but with high anticipation that the day will one an pleasurable one.

For links to other parts of this series.

Country Pork Sausages

Country Pork Sausages  Gluten Free

Cameron Harrison Butchers

My son does not like chicken, so when I was making a dish for dinner I thought I would add a few sausages to it so he would enjoy the meat part of the dish. I went to Cameron Harrison Butchers in Kelburn. I decided to buy a basic port pork sausage.  They had Irish pork sausages and country pork sausages for sale. I asked the butcher what the difference was, told me it was the flavour. I asked what flavour each sausage has. He told me they have different flavours.

Excuse the sarcasm; but I think I could establish independently that different types of sausages have different flavours. Maybe a little, even a small modicum, of product knowledge would not go amiss from the butcher. Or am I expecting too much?

A reader of my blog has asked me to review some gluten free sausages. Well here is a first. So to the reader from Auckland, here is a review of gluten free sausages from Wellington.

 

Cameron Harrison country pork sausages - gluten free. These are good sausages. A medium ground sausage with country style herbs for flavour. Could be sage and thyme? They worked well when cooked with chicken. I also cooked a few in the pan, they were flavoursome and nice to eat, a good meaty pork taste. The kids liked these. I would buy these again.

Cost per kilo: $18.99

Lamb Merquez

Lamb Merquez Cameron Harrison Butchers

These are good (not great) sausages. They come from Cameron Harrison Butchers. A little feed of four sasuages was consumed as a snack, over the last few days. They are mildly spiced. There are some hot spcies used, howeverly this is down sparingly, to arrive at a mild flavour. However I would call these a subtle flavour, certainly down the mild end of the continium. The main spice I identified was red chilli. The texture of the sausage is medium. When I asked the butcher what was in them, he said it was a secret and only his boss knows this information. If the boss dies and this information goes to the grave with him, it would not be a great loss to the culimary world.

I will buy these sausages again, when I want to add more variety to my sausage eating.

No comments from the kids, all the sausages were eaten by me.

Price per kilo: $19.95

Chicken Sausages

Chicken Sausages Cameron Harrison Butchers

These are nice sausages. They are small. One of the issues with a good chicken sausage is; does it taste of chicken? These do, they have thyme added to create a flavour that is subtle. They are good, however you can get a better chicken sausage in Wellington. I would prefer the sausage to have a greater chicken taste.

One of the great judges of sausages are my kids. They like these sausages.

Cost: $19.99 per kg

Cameron Harrison is a chain of butchers stores, based in Tawa, Ngaio and Kelburn. They make a wide range of sausages. I like their salamis.

I think I may have created sausage snobs out of my kids. The good news is they do not like sizzlers, that product that is not allowed to be called a sausage. They apprecaite a good sausage, at a bbq, they will ask the host questions about the sausage and where it came from. Our friends generally roll their eyes at this point. They do apprecatie a good sasuage, and the good thing is their tastes are different to mine.