The Eden Smokehouse is no stranger to winning awards.
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Its Atlantic salmon was champion at the 2008 Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) Sydney awards and the medal tally has kept rising consistently ever since.
The company can proudly boast two champions, nine gold medals, an extensive list of silvers and bronzes – and has now been crowned Australian Seafood Champion at the recent Australian Food Awards 2018.
Eden Smokehouse owner Stan Soroka said the winning streak is a combination of a complete team effort, the “Wow Factor” and good old fashioned flavour.
“Just like a good wine we want a great after taste - a true measure of great flavour. We experiment with our products and if they don’t have that wow factor then they don’t get a guernsey,” Mr Soroka said.
The team entered their latest product “old style bacon” in the awards.
Well-known for smoked fish and chicken, they moved into the bacon business after Mr Soroka spent a couple of years developing the right recipe.
“Our bacon doesn’t spit or shrink; it’s dry cured, an old process using salt and spices. We lose 15 per cent water but we have the flavour,” he said when launching the product earlier this year.
Mr Soroka said they were highly rewarded by the bacon bringing in a silver medal. For every product that places as a silver or bronze, feedback is taken on board and the highly skilled team of three work towards getting results above and beyond for the next awards round.
“We aim to please the food connoisseurs, we don’t go for second best,” Mr Soroka said.
Receiving the gold in the Australian Food Awards as well as the champion trophy in the Australian seafood category is a huge accomplishment.
Australian Food Awards judges are selected from across Australia based on their exceptional industry knowledge and expertise. The judging panel consisted of local industry leaders including Ian Curly, one of Australia’s most awarded chefs.
The champion smoked Atlantic salmon scored a very high 96.5 out of 100. Judges commented on the excellent presentation, great aroma, texture and rich flavour.
“This time around we almost pulled off the perfect score,” Mr Soroka said.
“Everything matters from presentation to palette, it’s all about old style flavour adapted from traditional recipes when food tasted like food.”