Cromwell sausage snags gold medal

Holding her gold medal-winning pork and fennel sausage is The Fridge butchery and delicatessen owner Jayne McMillan. Photo / Jared Morgan

A Cromwell butchery has made standout snag for a summer barbecue, winning a gold medal in the Great New Zealand Sausage Competition.

A pork and fennel combination proved a winner for The Fridge butchery and delicatessen when it was awarded gold in the traditional sausage category of competition at a virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday.

Owner Jayne McMillan was savouring the victory.

What made her win even more satisfying was it was the first time she had entered the Retail Meat New Zealand-run contest.

Judges focused on three key elements: flavour, texture, and "how well it [a sausage] stands up to the cooking process", McMillan said.

Despite lockdown disruptions, butchers put their best snarlers forward, resulting in 605 entries - a record in the competition's 10-year history.

Entries came from 99 producers across 17 categories.

Five days of judging took place last month by a team of butchers, food enthusiasts, chefs and industry heavyweights, who whittled entries down to the top-scoring sausages.

From there, gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded in each category and the gold medallists then being rejudged against one another.

McMillan had owned The Fridge for two years, but had worked in the meat industry for 26 years as a consultant.

Other winners from the South include Raeward Fresh (Queenstown), awarded bronze for its fresh apple and fennel pork sausage, and New World Three Parks (Wanaka), which was a silver medallist for its beef burger patties.