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.

A Fine Spring Dinner – The Fridge, Chicken, Rocket and Cashew Sausages along with Harrington’s, White Pudding.

A Fine Spring Dinner – The Fridge, Chicken, Rocket and Cashew Sausages along with Harrington’s, White Pudding.

I was in New Plymouth for the weekend. It was a busy time, doing work that needed to be completed on my mother’s house, seeing the amber and black of the Naki resoundingly take out the final of the National Provincial Rugby Championship for the first time, and a visit to The Fridge, a butcher’s shop in Devon St. Inside the shop is a very impressive butcher’s block near the front of the shop. This striking butcher’s block is matched by the sausages they make.

I arrived at the shop a little after midday on Saturday. The door was shut and the shop looked closed. I spied a couple of guys out the back. I knocked on the door and convinced the butcher to sell me some snarlers. I was after the pork sausages they make as I have not tried this variety, however they had been sold out. There may be message in here… the good carnivores of Taranaki appreciate quality pork snarlers. In my next visit to New Plymouth I will definitely be back to try the pork snarlers.

I did buy some chicken, rocket and cashew sausages. I suggested to my mum that we have these for tea. She said she was not too keen on sausages, I guess I must have got my sausage loving genes from my father. Mum asked whether the rocket would give us our greens for the day. This statement could have come from a kid who was trying to avoid their greens, and I had to inform my octogenarian mum that only a very small amount of rocket would be in each sausage. I cooked the sausages for tea, mum did the veges. She liked the sausage, she mentioned that she particularly enjoyed the taste of the chicken meat, not bad from a woman who says she does not like sausages.

I brought some sausages home to Wellington and cooked them up along with Harrington’s white pudding. A simple dinner was prepared. I used a newish Le Creuset cast iron griddle that we purchased when were in Melbourne. It is a useful item to bake items on in the oven. Also cooked were some carrots, peas, broccoli and asparagus. To accompany the meal I made a blue cheese sauce.

The finished product is pictured. The blue cheese sauce tastes better than it looks in the photo. The kids are keen on blue cheese and liked it with the white pudding and sausages. I considered that the flavour of the sausages needed to be the dominant taste, and used the sauce sparing on the sausage. The white pudding has a stronger flavour and the sauce can be applied thickly. The asparagus was very enjoyable with the blue cheese sauce.

The chicken sausages are excellent and I would rate them right up with the best of the best of chicken sausages. I regard these as superior to Island Bay Butchery’s chicken sausages, and I regard these as the best chicken sausages that are made in Wellington. My view on these sausages has been enhanced on a second and third sampling, for my initial review see here.

The white pudding is great complement to any meal and adds to a fine spring dinner. For a more in depth review see here.

This was an easy meal to cook and prepare for a week day evening meal.

Toulouse Sausages - The Fridge, New Plymouth

Toulouse Sausages – The Fridge, New Plymouth

These sausages were the second style of sausage I brought on my recent quick sojourn to the Naki, see link. I may be a sausage obsessive (and my kids do take the mickey on occasion), however I do consider that I can recognise a quality sausage by look and feel. When I unpacked these and cooked them for dinner I had very high expectations and I am pleased to report that these expectations were met.

These are a free range pork sausage. Added to the pork is salt, fresh garlic and parsley. Flecks of fresh parsley can be seen in the coarsely ground meat. The sausages have a chunky feel and look as you cut or bite into them. The garlic and parsley flavours complement each other. They combine to make a great tasting sausage. The chunkiness of the sausage also adds to the appeal. The sausage has good body and the tactile sensation in the mouth adds to this sausage’s allure. I really enjoyed the aroma, great taste and sensation of eating this sausage. I would heartily recommend this sausage.

The boys also enjoyed these sausages and made favourable comments.

 

 

Next time I am in New Plymouth, I will definitely be paying this butchery another visit.

Cost per kilo: $22.50

Chicken, Rocket and Cashew Sausages – The Fridge, New Plymouth

Chicken, Rocket and Cashew Sausages – The Fridge, New Plymouth

I had to make a quick trip to New Plymouth over the weekend. When I was up there someone mentioned a butcher’s shop in Devon St, the main street of New Plymouth. Around lunchtime on Saturday I popped in. The shop is called "The Fridge" and it states outside that it is a butchery and delicatessen. It has the feel and look of a shop that sells quality food. The cuts of meat on display have obviously been aged, and the slabs of meat are ready to cut to the customer’s desire. A very impressive butcher’s block is behind the counter. A selection of cheeses and other delicacies are also for sale.

I choose two types of fresh sausages to buy. The chicken sausages made a quick trip back to Wellington where they were cooked up prior to the All Blacks giving the English a pantsing in the rugby test at Hamilton. A very enjoyable evening, with the All Blacks putting on an imposing display and handsomely walloping the English, while I munched on a quality chicken sausage.

 

 

These are chunky wholesome sausages. The chicken meat used is the thigh. I consider the thigh to be the best cut of meat in a chicken. It has more flavour than the breast. Fresh rocket and roasted cashews are added. The Fridge roast their own cashews and all the herbs they use are fresh. Salt and pepper are also added.

I cooked these sausages slowly. They oozed a bit out the casing. However with a slight bit of caramelisation they cooked up nicely. Once I bit into the sausage I knew that it was a very good chicken sausage. It tasted of chicken, this is dominant flavour. There are plenty of chicken sausages out there that taste of chicken flavour. These sausages have the taste of chicken meat. The cashew nuts are roughly cut and there are hunks of the nuts in the sausages. When you bite one the flavour of the cashew nut comes through. These sausages do have a strong pepper taste. The pepper flavour of the rocket I suspect has been enhanced by pepper. I would have preferred a different balance of flavours, with a reduced pepper taste, however this does not detract from this being the best chicken sausage I have tasted this year.

 

 

I talked to the owner of the butchery, Mark - he was friendly and engaging. I also brought some dried sausage, watch out for a review of the kolbaz. Mark gave me a slice of this sausage and it tasted great.

My mum, who is in her eighties, was with me. She said she had walked past The Fridge but had never been in the shop. Mum was raised in rural Taranaki, and brought up a family of five hungry kids, with a very limited budget. Her cooking was reflective of the era of NZ cuisine in the 1950s-1970s. Mum sampled the kolbaz and said it was too spicy for her. She did not like it. In the car on the way back to her place, she remarked that she could still taste the sausage. The paprika was obviously lingering as an after taste. There is a very obvious difference in our palates. I love a smoky spiced sausage while my mum’s preferred snarler is a plain pork sausage. The key element here is that everybody can be happy. However if she wants to be happiest when eating meat, my advice to her was, "If you want quality, I think I have identified a great place in New Plymouth to buy your sausages and meat."

When next in New Plymouth I will be back to sample more of the quality sausages made by The Fridge.

Cost per kilo: $22.50