Pure Beef Sausage

Pure Beef Sausages

I was at the Island Bay Butchers earlier this week and purchased this new product. Took them home and cooked them for tea. They were served with oven roasted cauliflower, leeks and blue cheese. We also had baby peas.

 

 

As the butcher said, it is all beef banger, including the casing. It is also gluten free. But the big question is - what does it taste like? It is good, very dense and gives the mandibles a good work out. It is a pleasant meaty sausage that lets the meat give the flavour. In comparison to other meat sausages I have reviewed this is ok, without being great. I would buy this sausage again.

 

The other dishes that accompanied the sausages were a roasted leek and cauliflower with blue cheese. This is a very pleasant dish which all the family really enjoys. See the link for the recipe. This was also served with some baby peas, courtesy of Mr Wattie. What would a family do without Mr Wattie?

Cost per kilo: $17.95

Pork Bratwurst from Kerikeri

Pork Bratwurst from Kerikeri

This sausage was purchased from Churchill’s Butchers in Kerikeri while we were in the far north a few months ago. They came out of the freezer and were cooked recently. These are a pleasant sausage, with a nice meaty taste. There are signs of a herb flavouring that slightly adds to the piquant of the sausage. We also had some of Churchill’s black pudding, this is available for On Trays in Petone. See review.

 

If I lived in the far north I would buy these again. They are a run of the mill, better than average sausage. However compared with Park Ave’s Dutch braadwurst it is inferior. If you are looking for a great quality, reasonably priced meaty sausage in Wellington my view is you can not go past Park Avenue Quality Meat’s Dutch braadwurst. See the review of 9 January 2013.

 

For what ever reason the photos of the cooked suasages do not want to up load, so sorry no photo.

 

Cost per kilo: $16.95

 

And for those for read my blog regularly, we did get through the 6.5 earthquake, it was biggest quake I have experienced in my life, I am very pleased the epicentre was 70km away from Wellington. However we did lose a lamp that fell off the piano, books came off the bookcases too. However we were all fine, and he sausage stash in the freezer was untouched.

 

 

 

 

 

Spicy Cajun Chicken and Sausage Soup

Spicy Cajun Chicken and Sausage Soup

It is winter and I like soup as a comfort food. We had various whanau members around for dinner on Sunday evening. Two pots of soup and bread. A classic and filling winter meal.

I made one of my favourites a seafood chowder, fresh pieces of fish with a bag of marinara mix from the supermarket, celery, diced potato, fish stock and cooked in the pot. I thought that this would be the favourite soup. My family love this warm winter meal.

 

 

I also prepared a pot of spicy Cajun chicken and sausage soup. This is based on a Simon and Alison Holst recipe I got out the Dominion Post a few years ago. I have never been a great one for following recipes. I read the recipe and see the intent of the creator and then I create. This recipe uses chicken pieces (I find thighs are preferable to breast), sausage, onion, red pepper (although I used a green pepper), garlic, celery, paprika, chilli, tinned tomatoes, corn (creamed is best) and chicken stock. It is easy to make, and delicious.

 

 

It almost goes without saying that the big question is what kind of sausages to use. This winter I have been using chorizo criollo (see review 9 January 2013) from Park Ave Quality Meats. This would have to be my sausage of choice at the moment. The review in January does not do this sausage justice. It is a great sausage, at the spicier end of the spectrum, and delectable on the palate.

 

 

I would describe my nieces as conservative eaters. However, they choose the chicken and sausage soup, along with most of those present. The servings decreased in size as more people requested it, and I had the chowder. The chicken and sausage soup was well liked by all. Eaten with baguette, this is dunked in the soup to make the meal very enjoyable eating. A great success. A very pleasant winter evening.

Island Bay Butchery launches web site

The Island Bay Butchery has a new, and thier first web site.  Now I claim to know a bit about the sausages produced in Wellington. However when you read the extensive list of awards won by this butcher, you know they are a quality shop.

In the various guises of the NZ Sausage Awards they have won five highly commended awards, ten bronze awards, eight silver and three gold, including the Supreme Award in 2012.  Over the period 2001-2012 this is a total of 26 awards, pretty impressive eh. My postings of 7 May 2013 and 24 November 2012 refer to the 2012 Supreme Award.

If you are keen on sausages go check out the shop. A word of warning - it is best to go early in the day. At the end of the day the sausage cabinet can look bare. The reason - they have sold heaps of sausages. Just as the early bird gets the worm, the early sausage buyer has the widest choice.

And if you can’t check out the shop, visit the website,

http://www.islandbaybutchery.co.nz/welcome-to-island-bay-butchery-wellington/

As for me I am going to put in an order for some champagne, veal and truffle sausages. They only make them every so often and you can order them via the site.

The Happy Sausage Dealer

The happy sausage dealer

I put in an order with the German Butchery in Haruru Falls in the Bay of Islands for a few feeds of their fabulous smoked pork bratwurst (see review dated 13 May 2013).

These arrived today in two polystyrene boxes. I was in sausage heaven. Great smoky aroma, the stack of newly made sausages and the anticipation of a great feed to come later in the evening.

 

 

Various friends and workmates meant put in orders and I arranged for 40kg of the beauties. With the help from my super hero son, Sausage Boy, we cut packed and delivered to the expectant sausage purchasers. It did occur to me that I had ordered more than the body weight of my son in sausages. When the stacking was completed 306 sausages were on display on the bench. They were then packed into one or two kilo bag lots.

 

 

Luckily the weights and measures police were not present. Fifty grams either side of the kilo was fine by me.

For dinner I cooked sausages and went down to Castaway Fish and Chip Shop in the Northland Shops. This is a very good chippie. A very pleasant feed of sausages and chips was had by the family. The sausages were as good as I remembered from our visit up north.

I performed the sausage delivery to friends last evening, and again this morning at work.

Thanks to Michael and Patrick at the German Butchery.

Then tonight I got this email

OMG the smokiness!!!!!!!!!!!
From the Angels. I think it could have been the best sausage I’ve ever eaten?
Count me in for your next order but make mine a double.

Annette

The first of many satisfied customers….

And then the second email.....

Stu reckons that your sausages are the best he has ever tasted!!

When you put in another order can we order some more please?

Cheers

 

Paula

Almost a sausage crisis

Almost a sausage crisis

I may not have confessed this up until now but I have a "not so secret" stash of sausages. They are kept in the deep freeze, in our shed. I don’t want to give anyone ideas but it’s unlocked, behind the garage. There is also a mountain bike, lawn mower and various garden tools in there. So burglars and nefarious thieves, you know where the good stuff is.

Over the last 24 hours Wellington has through the eye of a big storm. They say it was worse than the Wahine storm of 1968. There were fifteen metre waves in Cook Strait, which you can see from our house if your eyesight is good. There were two hundred kilometre an hour winds on Mt Kaukau, which you can see from our place, even if your eyesight isn’t so good. We are on a ridge and, to put it mildly, we do get the wind. Needless to say it was a little breezy last night. With the wind coming from Antartica, the mercury was low.

The power went off for short time around 6pm. Then at 6am it went off again. Schools were closed and we had one kid at home, as his school was closed. He was closely supervised at all times by my wife, well apart from when she ran off with friends for coffee….. After six hours and a visit by the electrician the power was back on. What was my main concern? The sausage stash in the deep freeze defrosting....

I am pleased to report that the stash remained intact, phew.

Mittelgrobe Bratwurst

Mittelgrobe Bratwurst

We ate these sausages on our trip to the far north of New Zealand. They emanate from the German Butchery in Haruru Falls in the Bay of Islands. I bought a few packets to take home and put in the freezer. These were eaten last night. As one of the kids said, "Dad is happy, it is a winter evening, the fire is going, sausages for dinner and the All Blacks are playing." My kids are quite perceptive, and my needs are quite simple - warmth, food and rugby. It’s quite good when the whanau are being nice to me as well!

I cooked the classic sausage and bean dish. An old standby - a recipe of onion, garlic, cannelloni beans and tinned tomatoes, with a splash of balsamic vinegar to add some acidity to the dish, with capsicum to round off the vegetable component. Good solid, warming winter comfort food.

I also used sremska from Park Avenue Quality Meats. These are the new longer version that Gordon the butcher is making. He says he sells more of this sausage in the thinner longer form. (see review 24 Nov 2012) This offers a choice for the kids. A mild sausage and a very spicy sausage. My boys thought the sremska was too spicy, however they did try it. My daughter thought it was spicy, but nice. My wife liked it. The education of the children in the pleasures of spicy sausage eating does not occur over night, and while they still prefer the milder sausages it is more for me.

 

The guys at the German Butchery in the Bay of Islands are friendly and, more importantly, they know how to made excellent sausages. The mittelgrobe bratwurst is a mild sausage with a pleasant meaty taste. Mittelgrobe translates into medium coarse bratwurst, with bratwurst being German for sausage. The meat used is pork. It is a precooked sausage with one third being a coarse grind and two thirds being a fine grind. Only pork is used - there is no filler. This is reflected in the taste. The sausage is lactose and gluten free. There is no colouring or chemicals used. It is made in the bowl cutter at the butchers, meeting the specifications for a 100% German bratwurst. The Germans are very good at ensuring that the standard is maintained for important products as sausages and beer.

Patrick and Michael the butchers tell me that this sausage was entered into a competition in Germany in 2002 where it won its class. 

 

 

But the key issue is what does it taste like? It is good, it has softer taste and will appeal to a wide range of people. It is a meat sausage as opposed to a spiced meat sausage. The kids really liked it. My wife was very keen. I was keen. I would definitely buy this sausage again.

I cooked six for the evening meal and six for Sunday. The sausages all disappeared from the fridge by lunchtime. A favourable verdict from the kids. They had eaten five of them before I got to fridge to consume the last one.

Cost per kilo: $16.95