Best sausage boasts French flair
A sausage made with New Zealand venison blood and a dose of French flair has been named the country’s best.
The boudin noir, a French style of black pudding, from Akaroa Butchery & Deli in Canterbury proved to be faultless, beating 500 other entries in the 2017 Devro Great New Zealand Sausage Competition.
Head judge Kathy Paterson said the boudin noir was a ‘‘wellcrafted, perfectly balanced sausage with a beyond sensational texture’’.
Akaroa Butchery & Deli owner Brendan Foster hired a butcher hailing from France, who has made the boudin noir for the past two and a half years.
But this year Foster decided to take it from a jar, how it is usually served, and fill a sausage with the mix.
‘‘We had to develop a new stock that kept the flavour, so we did a few bacon hocks and made a smokey bacony stock,’’ he said.
They opted for venison blood in lieu of beef blood too, which gave the mixture a ‘‘chocolatey-velvety’’ texture. ‘‘It’s quite a unique story for New Zealand because nowhere else in the world do they abattoirkill venison, so they don’t collect it.’’
Foster began making blood sausage as a means to reduce waste, but was proud it was deemed best in the country.
It was a ‘‘real nose-to-tail’’ product, he said.
‘‘It the way I think the system should work: eating everything, don’t waste.’’
The final judging panel, composed of food writers and industry professionals, was unanimous in its decision to name the sausage as the supreme winner, despite the style’s traditionally polarising taste.
It was the first time Paterson had encountered a boudin noir at the competition, however Apero chef Leslie Hottiaux provided some French insight on the supreme winner judges’ panel.
Some ‘‘won’t touch it with a barge pole’’, others love it and some consider it a super food, Paterson said. The French style sausage is traditionally served with sauteed potatoes or caramelised apples.
‘‘The people who made that knew what they were doing. I really feel that not all butchers or sausage makers know how to use spices,’’ she said.
However, the makers of this sausage and several of the other contenders for the supreme award did.
The winner’s work was an ‘‘incredibly crafted sausage’’, she said.