Tauranga butcheries win gold elite at Retail Meat Great NZ sausage awards 2023

When Kurt Thompson’s daughters suggested he make a San Choy Bow sausage, the Pāpāmoa butcher knew he was on to a winner.

His business, Thompson’s Butchery, and Kiwi Fresh Meats Tauranga both took home gold elite prizes for top products in their categories at the Retail Meat’s The Great New Zealand Sausage Competition.

Thompson’s Asian-inspired pork sausage won the award in the flavours of the world category, with the butchery also taking home a bronze in the burger patty section for a pork belly entry at last week’s event.

He said it was his two daughters who came up with the San Choy Bow sausage flavour combination.

“They love Asian and Thai food … It’s the kind of dish we’d had and they just absolutely loved it,” he said.

The sausage has flavours of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, spring onions, water chestnuts, carrots and Chinese five-spice.

He said the visual appeal of the hand-made sausage gained him points at the competition.

“They [the judges] loved when they sliced it open … [and saw] it had all these fresh ingredients,” Thompson said.

Thompson said the pork belly burger patty required the “right ratio of fat” and keeping burger recipes “basic” was the key to a perfect burger.

He said he mostly enjoyed the “creative side of food” and barbecues were “such a Kiwi thing”.

Owner of Thompson’s Butchery Kurt Thompson.

“There’s nothing better than having your family or friends around. It’s like a family bonding time as well. It’s not just about having a barbecue and cooking something to eat.

“You know, you’re creating memories,” said Thompson.

He said the small business offered a large selection of unique sausage flavours, including margarita chicken and pork belly cashew, and sold “hundreds of kilos” of sausages per week.

He said creating new flavour recipes “keeps the job interesting” and made the business stand out from the crowd.

Thompson said he bought the business in April and this was his first time entering the awards with Thompson’s Butchery, winning two awards in two of the three categories it entered.

Kiwi Fresh Meats Tauranga's gold elite award for their Chilli Cheese Griller and a silver award for their Bacon Cheese Bites. Photo / Alex Cairns

Another Tauranga winner was Kiwi Fresh Meats, which won a gold elite award for their Chilli Cheese Griller and silver for their Bacon Cheese Bites in the pre-cooked sausage category.

Owner Jason Pears said receiving the awards was “really amazing”.

Pears said the Chilli Cheese Griller brought a “complete change in flavour” to the Kiwi summer barbecue with an “African [inspired] theme and a taste for everybody”.

He said the inspiration for the flavour was creating a variation of a pork and meat sausage.

“It’s chilli but not very hot, got a bit of a kick to it though,” said Pears.

He said the Bacon Cheese Bite sausage was “cheerio-sized”, making it “perfect for a starter or entertaining”.

Kiwi Fresh Meats Tauranga owner Jason Pears. Photo / Alex Cairns

The Great New Zealand Sausage Competition featured 640 meat retailers across the country.

Judge Felicity O’Driscoll described the process of whittling down the entries as “quite a difficult task” due to the “outstanding level of entries”.

This year’s competition had a record number of competitors for gold elite awards including supermarket brand names and small businesses across the country.

Fellow judge Greig Buckley said they were looking for well-made sausages with the right combination of quality ingredients that would appeal to the market.

“All entries are judged on their aroma – both raw and cooked – appearance, texture and finally the most important – the taste,” said Buckley.

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.