Local butchers are firing up the barbie as they prepare to compete for the regional Sausage King crown at Bega TAFE on Wednesday.
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Eden’s Browns Butchery and Pambula’s JD’s Meats are looking to add to their already impressive trophy stocks, each entering multiple categories in the 2014 Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) NSW/ACT Sausage King competition.
A team of judges will crown the regional kings in five different sausage categories, along with a best burgers category, with the winners to progress to the state finals in Wollongong on October 25.
From there, the state champions will compete for the title of Australia’s ultimate Sausage King in Adelaide on February 7.
Eden butcher Robert Brown says he is entering three categories this year, and isn’t holding back on the creativity in his pursuit of the title.
“We’re putting products in the traditional Australian, traditional Australian pork and gourmet categories,” Robert said.
“We always try something new when the competition comes around, and this year we’re entering a fruit sausage in the gourmet.
“Leon [Rambouts] actually came up with the idea; we’ll be dicing up apples and onions, putting them in a pure pork sausage and seasoning it with nutmeg and cinnamon.
“We’re also doing a kangaroo sausage, which is very popular with tourists if you get to the state level, and also a herb and garlic sausage.
“But my favourite is the pure pork; we won the best in NSW in that category a few years ago.”
Robert will be up against stiff competition from rivals including JD’s Meats at Pambula, who are entering all but two categories, with their best beef, lamb, pork and poultry snags this year.
JD’s Meats proprietor Jamie Parkes said he will also be looking to spice things up with some new ideas.
“We’ve come up with a couple of new ones, but exactly what flavours we’ll be putting in I’m not quite sure yet,” he said.
“We got a few seconds and thirds last year, but we’ll see how we go this year.
“We came third in Australia for our chicken snags a few years ago.”
AMIC says entries are judged on their flavour and texture, as well as their cooked and uncooked visual appearance.
The regional competition kicks off at Bega TAFE at 9am on Wednesday; stay tuned to find out how our local butchers fare.
