Celebrating the Ascent of Everest

Celebrating the Ascent of Everest

Last evening we went to a friend’s house for an excuse to enjoy fine food, wine and convivial conversation. The 60^th anniversary of the ascent of Mt Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary was the focus. This required dressing for the occasion. I wore shorts, a polyprop and a tramping shirt - ideal clothing for a climbing expedition. My wife decided to wear clothes that celebrated the royal coronation of May 1953. The diamonds were worn. This bracelet is not made of faux jewels; it must have tens of carats of diamonds set in platinum.  

 

 

She also wore black spotted tights, she thought they symbolised a snow storm. I thought they were the beginning of frostbite and gangrene.

 

We had to take food. I did the old standby of sremska and blue cheese on crackers. See review dated 24 November 2012. Gordon at Park Avenue Quality Meats has started making sremska in a longer thinner casing. He tells me that he is selling more of them in this casing. I had four of these highly spiced sausages in the freezer. Here is a photo of the plate next to my pack with ice axe and crampons. You never know what the snow conditions will be like on the western face of Creswick Terrace, Northland in Wellington.

 

I made my entrance to the soirée, by tackling the technically difficult western face, this involved ascending a retaining wall and clambering over a fence onto the host’s deck. On a scale of difficulty in climbing, this has been compared as comparable to the Hillary Step, just below the summit of Everest. I did not have to use the ice axe or crampons, but was glad I had them in case of an unexpected blizzard. I had offered my wife the role of lead climber on the expedition. She declined. Although I would have enjoyed her company, the satisfaction of completing a difficult technical solo climb was immense. All other guests had taken the easier eastern route made up of a concrete path and steps. Needless to say the other guests were surprised when I entered the room through the western door.

 

 

My wife made a dessert, a mountain of meringues, hazel nuts and chocolates. This was chewy, gooey and delicious. As guests tucked into the dessert I thought, as the last of it was consumed, the words of Ed Hillary resounded around the table, and "We had knocked the bast@rd off."

Black Pudding from Kerikeri

Black Pudding from Kerikeri

 

 While in the far north we also visited Kerikeri. Along the main street is Churchills, a butcher’s shop and deli. This is a well presented butcher’s shop. The butcher I talked to said their sausage selection was smaller as they were now operating on their winter sausage menu. In the summer he said they had double the cabinet space devoted to sausages. He said they sausages just fly out of the door over summer. Coming from Wellington, I considered that as the temperature was above twenty degrees, and even though the month was May, it was still summer. The pleasures of living in a semi tropical climate. I brought some pork bratwurst and black pudding. 

The black pudding was eaten as part of an evening meal at Opua. This was a fine ground black pudding with chunky bits included. You could taste the onion that had been added to the sausage. There was a little kicker of an after taste, maybe pepper or chilli.

 

This was a pleasant sausage both my wife and kids liked it, even once I told the boys what goes into black pudding sausages. I would describe this as an averagely good sausage but the family disagreed and rated it higher than I did. I would buy this again. The butcher told me they sell this in Wellington at On Trays in Petone and the family are keen to have it again so a visit and purchase is very likely. 

 

The suasage in the photo is one a smoked pork bratwurst from the German Butchery in Haruru Falls. See the previous posting for a review.

Cost per kilo: $14.95

Fabulous Smoked Pork Bratwurst

Fabulous Smoked Pork Bratwurst

 

It was the school holidays so our whanau headed to the far north of New Zealand seeking some warmer weather. We found this sailing on a friend’s yacht, the Undine. This is the orginal cream boat from the Bay of Islands. Built in 1887 this is the oldest commercial yacht in NZ still sailing.

 

 

 

 

Very pleasant weather, swimming in the sea, sailing and more. The search for the ever elusive quality sausage would also be part of this trip. In today’s post I will review the best of the north, iche grobe bratwurst, smoked pork bratwurst from the German Butchery in Haruru Falls, just outside of Paihia.

 

 

This is an unusually located shop. As the business card says it is located at 5 Te Kahu St, Haruru Falls Industrial Estate. Across the road is a car groomer, next door is a kitchen manufacturer. This is not exactly your normal locale for a butcher’s shop. It is in a semi industrial area, with no other retail shops. On the main road is a sign identifying the existence of the shop, which was how we found it. Behind this plain industrial facade are great sausages. As Patrick the butcher says, they are gluten, dairy and egg free. The smoked bratwurst tastes fantastic. These are giants amongst the sausages we found in the far north. They family thought they were great. My wife described these as beautiful.

The flavour is a gentle smoked flavour. Below is a picture of the smoker, it is out the front of the shop. They were using manuka wood to smoke the sausages. You could see the smoke wafting out of the smoker. I was told that parsley and lovage are to be found within the secret mix of herbs are used for flavour. Patrick tried growing lovage in NZ but the crop failed, so he imports this herb from Germany. This was a medium ground sausage.

 

 

This sausage will have wide appeal. In my view it could be the next NZ sausage of the year, it really is an exceptional sausage. I would put it in the same class as Park Avenue Meats kabonosy, or Island Bay Butchers chicken sausages. A magnificent sausage with wide appeal. Highly recommended.

 

 

Cost per kilo:$16.95

Patrick also makes prosciutto, which we sampled. Very nice and a third of the price in the supermarket in Paihia.

Venison Herb and Garlic

Venison Herb and Garlic

I was at the Island Bay Butchery recently and was keen to purchase the continental garlic sausages but unfortunately they had sold out. This is small sausage which is obviously popular - See review 9 September 2012.

So instead I brought some venison herb and garlic sausages. These are a good sausage. I asked what herbs they use in the sausage and the response I got from the butcher was that it was a "trade secret". These sausages do have a garlic flavour and taste of some herbs but I can't identify exactly what they are. The venison taste is not really overt, rather its more of a subtle taste. Some venison sausages have a really strong gamey taste, but these sausages are not like this. The sausages are a medium ground sausage. I will definately buy these again.

Cost per kilo: $19.95

 

 

 

New Zealand's Champion Sausage

New Zealand’s Champion Sausage

This is the cup awarded to the winner of New Zealand's  Champion Sausage.

 

 

Fantastic result for the Island Bay Butchery who won New Zealand’s supreme sausage award for their smoked kielbasa last year. You can find a review of this sausage on my post of 24 November 2012.

Last week when I visited I took this photo of their sausage cabinet. They said it was not looking good as too many sausages had already sold. They said it looks at its best early in the morning. The problem they have is they sell too many sausages. Congratulations to the Island Bay Butchery shop for being a great source of sausages.

 

 

If you want to see more, here is a clip I found from TVNZ’s Breakfast Show about Island Bay Butchery.

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/growing-business-island-bay-butchery-video-4785190

Romanian Skinless Sausages

Handmade Romanian Skinless Sausages

We sometimes go the Farmer’s Market in Hill St, Wellington on a Saturday morning. It is held in the car park of St Paul’s Cathedral. This is good place to get the week’s vegies. Down the end of the market is a stall that sells sausages. These are Romanian and skinless. They cook them over a barbecue and will make you a burger, or you can buy 5 for $10, and take them home to cook. I took my sausages home.

I asked the guys doing the cooking about the sausages. They were not very forthcoming - was I a competitor trying to steal their families’ intellectual property? They did say the recipe was over 200 years old and was a family tradition. The sausages have pepper and pimento to enhance the flavour, the other spices used are a closely guarded secret.

 

 

The sausages are low in fat and shrivel as they cook. They taste good. The taste is quite mild. If I had a blind tasting I may think I was being offered kofta. The minced meat needed to be handled delicately during the cooking process, they firmed up as they cooked. I would purchase these again. The guys cooking the sausages say they are best cooked over charcoal, rather than the gas barbecue they were using. All sausages are improved by a bit of smoky charcoal.

 

Cost per kilo: Unknown, however 5 suasages are $10

 

Beef Bangers from Gipp St

Gipps St Butchers Beef Bangers

Had these today. These are good solid kiwi bangers. They would go great with mashed potato. Not the most outstanding sausage you will sample, however they are solid and meaty. I thought they were a bit bland, however the kids liked them. They are ground to a fine consistency and have a lower fat content.  

To buy these again there would have to be a limited choice. There are lots of better sausages around.

Gipps St Butchers is a quality butchers shop, they provide friendly service and are very helpful. The cumberland suasage is a better buy though.  

Cost per kilo: $16.99