Bigger always better with bangers and barbecues

From left, Andrew Ayre, Brian McLay, and Peter Harrison. Picture / Hawke's Bay Today

When it comes to barbecue, it never pays to think small, particularly if you want to feed a crowd.

With that in mind, Brian McLay plans to cook New Zealand's longest gourmet sausage, on the country's longest barbecue, at tomorrow's Blues, Brews and BBQs at the Hawkes Bay Showgrounds in Hastings.

The 60m long snarler will be made out of venison so McLay, who has allergies to beef and lamb, can sample the mammoth creation.

With the help of Andrew Ayre's profile-cutting business C. N. C to provide the metal plates and of long- standing butcher Peter Harrison to make the sausage, McLay expects the big banger to come in at 40kg - or the equivalent of 480 sausages.

"When I first started, I thought this would be a piece of cake," McLay said.

The problems came thick and fast, though, including how to get the banger to the event and fit it on the barbecue.

The barbecue itself isn't on the small side either - being 6m long and weighing 859kg. It will be brought in by truck, then lifted off with a forklift.

Harrison said making the giant banger was the strangest request he'd had in 37 years of butchery. "It's the biggest challenge I've ever faced."

McLay said he wanted to do something for Blues and Brews but couldn't brew beer and didn't know how to play music.

"I wanted to do something that would stand out," he said. "We had a think tank and this was something we could have a crack at."

- HAWKES BAY TODAY