A boutique Hawke’s Bay butchery has nabbed the two top prizes at The 100% New Zealand Bacon and Ham Awards.
Jordan and Varnnah Hamilton-Bicknell who run Wild Game in Hastings won the supreme bacon award with their middle eye loin entry and the best ham award for their boneless ham.
Jordan Hamilton-Bicknell who has a passion for hunting and began his butchery trade at just 15 said he was blown away by the honours.
“It’s the first time I have entered and I never thought I would win both,” he said.
“My secret is really just keeping it real, creating old school bacon and ham, using good quality New Zealand pork - keeping it simple and doing it well.”
The pork used in the winning products was supplied by Dean Nikora of Crackling Good Farm, in Hawke’s Bay, who also attended the awards dinner in Auckland last night.
“Supplying someone like Wild Game is critical to us because it helps us to grow, in terms of offering a specialised product, caring for the animal really well and being able to present it to Jordan in the way that he needs it. This allows him to create a superior product,” Nikora said.
Judging took place over three days, with a team of butchers and culinary experts inspecting and sampling New Zealand’s finest bacon and ham products.
Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded in each of the seven bacon categories and the two ham categories.
From there, all gold medal winners were re-judged against each other to then find New Zealand’s supreme bacon and ham.
Wild Game's award-winning bacon. Photo / Supplied
Judge and food writer Ginny Grant said there was a really high standard of entries this year.
“Judges were looking for great flavour, good salt levels, subtle smokiness and a nice even distribution of fat. It’s important to get those attributes right to allow the flavour of the pork to shine through.
“The Supreme Bacon winner was a great piece of bacon with a lovely balance of flavour. Smoke didn’t dominate and most importantly, it tasted of pork.”
Grant said the winning ham entry from Wild Game was a beautiful piece of meat.
“It looked and tasted amazing with a lovely texture,” she said.
Aside from the traditional ways of cooking, Grant’s top tip is to use bacon and ham as flavouring ingredients in the base of soups or pasta sauces to add depth and richness to various dishes.
