It must be true love

It must be true love

My wife had to go to Auckland for a day’s work. I received a call late in the day saying she was outside Westmere Butchery and what kind of sausages would I like purchased. From our visit to Auckland in January the two sausages that stuck in my memory were the pork, blue cheese, walnut and pear; and Italian Banderia. Both varieties were available and purchased.

After a quick flight to Wellington these were consumed by an appreciative whanau. The sausages were as good as I remembered them. The blue cheese, walnut and pear is an outstanding snarler for those who enjoy the tanginess of blue cheese with the texture of roughly ground walnuts on the palate. We even had some left over to share with friends when had them round for coffee and hot cross buns at Easter.

Buying sausages for your husband during a quick trip to Auckland, it must be true love.

The mid afternoon sausage snack - Hellertau Stuntman Snarlers

The mid afternoon sausage snack - Hellertau Stuntman Snarlers

 

The window of Westmere Butchery, the awards they win are well deserved.

My mate who was visiting from England suggested we eat out together as it was their last night in New Zealand. Being the flexible types we are we agreed, however a small problem did exist. We had a small sample of Hallertau Stuntman sausages for Westmere Butchery in the fridge. These sausages won the best beer banger award in the 2014 Devro NZ Sausage Competition. After another day at Wainui Beach enjoying the surf and sand we came back to the bach to cook the snarlers for a mid afternoon snack. The boys and I soon had them eaten.

 

 

The butcher in Auckland described these as a smoked pork bratwurst with chilli. This sausage is very slightly smoked, with very mild taste of chilli, there is a small level of heat in the after taste. The sausage is named after Hellertau Stuntman, a craft beer, this is used to augment the flavours in the sausage. Stuntman is a hoppy IPA that I have not sampled. The fusion of the delicate smoke and light chilli along with Hellertau Stuntman meant that the meat was the dominant flavour. I did consider that the butcher’s description and my palate were at different places in relation to this sausage. However this is still a very pleasant sausage that will appeal to your average kiwi snarler eater's palate. While I would purchase this sausage again.

 

Our families went to The Shack in Raglan for dinner, great food along with witty repartee meant the evening was very enjoyable.

A second visit to Westmere Butchery and on to Raglan

A second visit to Westmere Butchery and on to Raglan

As we headed from the far north to Raglan we decided to go via Westmere Butchery to purchase some more sausages. On the list to purchase were pork and lemon; pork, blue cheese and walnut; and Italian Banderia. Westmere Butchery make a wide array of sausages and when we visited not one of the desired flavours were currently on display. The shop was busy and so we selected cracked pepper and Worcestershire sauce, chicken and cranberry, and Hellertau Stuntman sausages. With the sausages in a cold bag, it was off to Raglan.

We had booked a bach through the internet, and stayed at Pep’s Cottage in Raglan. This was a great house to stay for our sojourn, the view from the deck was magnificent.

 

 

My father had worked in Raglan briefly during the early 1970s. I remembered the harbour, the mud flats and rowing in a dinghy but not a lot else about the town. We lived a place that had a path down into the bush, this led to the long drop  that was the house's toilet. It is interesting about what you recall after over forty years.

For the first night in Raglan we cooked the chicken and cranberry snarlers. These were eaten with fresh corn on the cob, a potato salad and a green salad.

 

The chicken and cranberry sausages are a fine grind quality chicken sausage with a slight hint of cranberry. They were pleasant eating, but were not outstanding. I would rate The Fridge, New Plymouth and Island Bay Butchery’s chicken sausages as superior to any of the chicken sausages we had eaten recently from Westmere Butchery.

 

 

As the sun went down and we ate our meal on the deck we looked forward with anticipation to our time in Raglan.

Elliot's Beach and Italian Banderia

Elliot’s Beach and Italian Banderia

 

 

A trip to Elliot’s Beach meant that the boogie boards were used in a reasonably sized surf. The waves were a little uneven and could dump and twist you on occasion, however it was great to be in the surf on a hot day.

The evening meal was again sausages and salads. This time we ate Italian Banderia from Westmere Butchery. This sausage won gold in the Devro NZ Sausage Awards in the Continental Ready to Eat Category. It was also awarded the People’s Choice Award.

I really enjoyed eating this sausage. The pork is balanced with the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, both can be detected on the palate. The mozzarella is in small lumps in the sausage and they pop in the mouth as you chew the snarler. These sausages are coarsely ground. There are also flecks of red and green in the sausage. I was unsure about what these were, but the key point is that this is a great sausage. I really enjoyed eating it.

When I am next in Westmere Butchery I will be buying this sausage again. I can understand how this sausage received the People's Choice Awards.

Oke Bay and Sausages

Oke Bay and Sausages

We went to the beach just past Rawhiti, Oke Bay, a short walk over a little hill to a beautiful petite sandy bay. The sea was warm and inviting and I enjoyed the refreshing dip in the ocean. As we headed home I was looking forward to a good feed.

 

 

Dinner was similar to last evening, green and potato salad, a smaller selection of sausages and some shredded chicken. We started off with an aperitif of smoked king fish on crackers. This was brought to the house by a friend who had caught the fish earlier in week and had smoked some of the fillets. It was great eating.

 

 

The two sausages served tonight were also from Westmere Butchery, a gluten, soy and dairy free (see the previous post re the helpfulness of the butchers re ingredients) pork and lemon, along with the sausage that won the Gold Award in the poultry category at the 2014 Devro NZ Sausage Awards, a chicken peri peri sausage.

The pork and lemon sausage was very popular. The finely ground sausage had a moderate amount of lemon flavour. Being gluten, soy and dairy free it meant all people present could sample it. This is a simple, plain sausage with a hint of lemon to complement the pork flavour. An excellent snarler. Cost per kilo: $15.95

 

 

The chicken peri peri sausage was a medium ground sausage. The peri peri flavour complements the chicken, when eaten the flavour intensifies as the components of the spices are absorbed by the taste buds. This is a medium ground spiced sausage. It found favour with those at the dinner table, but as indicated the pork and lemon sausage was preferred. I would buy this sausage again. Cost per kilo: $17.95

The weather, sea, sun and surf continue to make our holiday an enjoyable one.

Yachting and Sausages

Yachting and Sausages

We are up in the Bay of Islands staying with friends. The weather is warm, many degrees hotter than Wellington, which is very enjoyable.

 

 

I went sailing with my mate who owns the Undine, the original cream boat operated by Fullers that collected milk and cream from farms on the coast and up the rivers and inlets of the Bay Islands. The Undine is a Northland cargo cutter. Hundreds of these boats were built in the nineteenth century but sadly the Undine is the last surviving cargo cutter. She was built in 1887 and today is owned by an ardent sailor who hopes she will see in the twenty-second century.

 

 

 

It was very pleasant out on the water, a little gusty so we sailed with the mainsail and gib. It was a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

When we got back to the house we cooked up some dinner. Good simple fare for a late summer evening’s dinner.

 

 

We cooked up Westmere Butchery’s pork sausages with blue cheese, walnut and pear, along with spicy chicken and coriander sausages. Also served were new potatoes and a green salad.

The spicy chicken and coriander are a medium to fine grind sausage. This sausage is gluten, soy and dairy free and suited the exacting dietary requirements of my mate’s partner and their son perfectly. She had phoned the butchery earlier in the day and they were very helpful in working through the exact ingredients in the sausages – better service would be hard to come by for those who need to be sure of just what they are eating. The coriander is the dominant flavour and there is a significant taste of chilli too. Flakes of the red chilli can be seen in the sausage. The chilli kicks in to a greater degree as an aftertaste. The spices dominate the chicken taste. While the sausage is able to be identified as a chicken sausage in my opinion the flavours are too strong and detract from making this sausage a great chicken sausage. The others at the table agreed with my sentiments. I would not purchase these sausages again but our hostess felt differently. Westmere Butchery made a wide range of quality sausages, everyone has different preferences and when I go back there are lots of flavours that I would prefer to sample. Cost per kilo: $17.95.

 

 

The pork, blue cheese, walnut and pear sausages were well received. These have a pork flavour with the dominant secondary flavour being blue cheese. Our whanau like blue cheese, and appreciated this flavoursome sausage. The flavours of the walnut are easy to distinguish and have a lower intensity than the blue cheese. The walnuts are lumpy and add a pleasant textual component to the snarler. The sweetness of the pear is present in small amounts and this sweetness is fleeting on the palate. These sausages are very nice and went down well, I would purchase these again. Cost per kilo: $16.95.
 

I must admit that I felt a bit intimidated by my mate’s partner - as I took pictures of the dinner she remarked that one of her photos of the Boatshed café in Rawene was in Cuisine magazine, the latest edition with a focus on wine, Cuisine Wine Country 2015. Obviously I need to discuss with her how to improve on my food photographs.

What is out the back of Westmere Butchery?

What is out the back of Westmere Butchery?

 

On our summer holiday we travelled to Auckland and stayed with a friend, she lives in Grey Lynn. My wife came home from a morning stroll and said, "I walked past the Westmere Butchery, and they are open." I was surprised they were open on a Sunday morning just after Christmas, however was delighted with the news. So naturally I wandered down and brought some snarlers. The young butcher who served me was helpful and informative. I told him about my blog and he showed me their chiller. He said with the Christmas rush they only had about half the number of snarlers that are normally present and that the butchers would be working hard to restock the sausage supply. Even at half full it was an impressive sight! 

 

Of course I purchased some snarlers to be eaten on our trip to the far north.