14 March 2012

Wake up and smell the bacon! The sizzling smell of success … ACT bacon producer declared one of nation’s best

| Whiteworks
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Homer Simpson may have been the first to come up with Bacon Day but Australian Pork Limited (APL) has gone one better, surpassing Homer’s wildest dreams with Australian Bacon Week, a (delicious) initiative to highlight the pink square PorkMark – the only guaranteed way you can choose 100 per cent pure home grown Australian bacon.

Heralding Australian Bacon Week 18 – 25 March will be the announcement of the winners of Australia’s Best Bacon on Tuesday 13 March by the Hon Joe Ludwig, Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Not just a celebration everyone’s favourite breakfast food, Australian Bacon Week is more importantly a show of support for the local pork farmers as well as bacon, ham and smallgoods manufacturers that are committed to using and selling products made with 100 per cent Australian pork. It is the celebration of true blue Australian bacon rather than from imported pork used to make 65% of small goods sold in Australia.

Countries like Denmark and Canada have highly subsidised agricultural industries and as such are able to export frozen product in enormous amounts, destined for smallgood manufacturing. Over 2.6 million kilograms of foreign pig meat – $8.5 million worth – arrives in Australia every week.

APL CEO Andrew Spencer says: “Our consumer research has shown 95 per cent of Australians would prefer to buy Australian. But they find the current labeling for bacon very confusing and at times misleading. For example ‘Made in Australia’ does not mean the product is made from Australian grown pork, only that it has been manufactured here. This pork is imported frozen, thawed out and then manufactured into bacon in Australia. The only way to be really sure you’re buying bacon or indeed any type of smallgoods product made using Australian pork is to look for the pink Australian PorkMark as your guarantee of Australian origin”.

This year, 115 bacons were registered as part of the National Bacon Awards for Excellence, entries were then judged by two chefs and a fleishmeister on a variety of factors including appearance, aroma, texture, shrinkage and of course, taste.*

Cameron Fenson of Meatways Butchery in Kambah took out national second place for his short cut bacon. Judges described his entry as having “good neat colour, inviting aroma and great balance of sweet, smoke and salt flavour developing on the back palate”.

Currently, there are 353 butchers and smallgoods producers licensed to champion the PorkMark on their products. Since the inception of Australian Bacon Week in 2010, the number of licensees nation wide has continued to grow, indicating the growing push from the Australian public to buy local and the subsequent real value proposition that being part of the Australian PorkMark program brings to businesses.

During Australian Bacon Week, hundreds of licensees around the country will be conducting in-store promotions which include bacon taste testing, price promotions as well as Australian bacon buy one get one free specials among other localised events.

And the national winners are…

1st 2nd 3rd
Full Rasher Peter G Bouchier Pty Ltd – Moorabbin, Vic Slade Point Meat Specialists – Mackay, Qld Rapley’s Midtown Quality Meats – Narooma, NSW
Short Cut Barossa Fine Foods/Schulz Butchers, Angaston SA Meatways Butchery – Kambah, ACT Kanmantoo Bacon Company – Kanmantoo, SA

And the state winners are…

ACT

1st 2nd 3rd
Full Rasher Balzanelli Smallgoods – Fyshwick, ACT Griffith Butchery – Griffith, ACT Mike’s Meats – Fyshwick, ACT
Short Cut Meatways Butchery – Kambah, ACT Simco Meats – Macquarie, ACT Balzanelli Smallgoods – Fyshwick, ACT

* The judges comprised fleishmeister Horst Schurger, who has a Master’s degree in Butchering and Smallgoods from the Master College in Mönchengladbach Germany and two chefs, Paul McDonald and Simon Bestley. Between them, McDonald and Bestley have broad international experience working in Michelin starred restaurants, cruise liners and premier teaching institutions

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Madam Cholet8:44 am 21 Apr 14

Bit of a zombie thread, but have just eaten Pialligo Smokehouse bacon for my Easter Monday breaky and I declare them the winner. Bacon how it should taste. I got my pack from Fyshwick markets but you can order from them online I believe.

Really some dumb ass small minded people on the site make me wild passing coment and hanging s*** on people and things they know nothing about, if you know 100% what you are talking about then say somthing if you don’t shut the f up.
I say congrats to these people and well done, you have done yourself and this town proud to be winners keep up the good work so we all can enjoy your meat you produce.
I ask the dumb asses do you suport Austrailan products or the imports? Rember its our childrens and grand childrens future…. REALLY WAKE UP

carnardly said :

yes but are they caged pigs or free range…?

I can’t tell if you’re being facetious, but…

Cages for pigs are called sow stalls and it is a method of intensive farming that is as horrific as battery cages for hens. There is such a thing as free range pork.

“Cameron Fenson of Meatways Butchery in Kambah took out national second place for his short cut bacon. Judges described his entry as having “good neat colour, inviting aroma and great balance of sweet, smoke and salt flavour developing on the back palate”.
——————————————————————————————
Oh, please. Next they’ll be telling us that it has a mixture of blackberry and cinnamon notes on the front palate, with satisfying banana echoes at the back (a la wine wankers).

That said, congratulations to the winners. Good ham and bacon is a wondrous thing, one of humanity’s finest achievements. Like many things in life, it is not hard to do it adequately, but to do it exceptionally well sets the doer apart from the pack. Whether it be prosciutto, kransky, mortadella, salami or any of the other yummy things that can be made with pork, the makers deserve our respect and thanks for making the world a better place.

I just had a look at the Balzanelli website, and they have won another customer. Rioters, we should all support these excellent local businesses, and not just for altruistic motives. The stuff they make is delicious!

“breakfast food”?!

Why restrict it to just that one meal, When there’s lunch, dinner, fourth-meal, elevenses, afternoon-tea supper and midnight snack to benefit from a hot, pink, smokey injection?

And I concur: Cameron’s bacon is orgasmic!

colourful sydney racing identity said :

The fix is in. How could Griffith butchery not win?

This other stuff must be bloody terrific, because the only bacon I really remember as being truly outstanding in my entire life comes from the Griffith blokes. I’m gonna head down to Kambah this weekend to make a comparison.

And I do love that this post is tagged just simply “bacon”. It’s all you need to say. They even make “bacon” for vegetarians – it’s considered that much a part of our everyday diet!

Deref said :

And thumbs up for Bacon Week! 😀

Surely you mean bellies up? I’ll certainly be raising mine!

0_0 There are people who are BACON JUDGES?????

OMFG! I’ve wasted my life!

And thumbs up for Bacon Week! 😀

colourful sydney racing identity said :

The fix is in. How could Griffith butchery not win?

Use dto buy our meat there but for various reasons stopped….still considering going back tho’ as just can’t get better….and yes, the bacon from memory was pretty good.

mp2615 said :

Got my kno3. look out for next year. Totally agree about becoming a fleishmeister. I think the farmers market at epic will have the pork I need. And there is the Balzanelli stand for some fine product. Now to mix and match threads, I’m doing my bit for chicken welfare by keeping 4 wonderful isa browns in the backyard. Talk about quality, fantastic eggs. The biggest one so far is 70 grams.

Home grown eggs are sensational.

yes but are they caged pigs or free range…?

colourful sydney racing identity said :

The fix is in. How could Griffith butchery not win?

Because it’s overrated?

quote comment=”392326″]I make my own bacon, but now I don’t know if I’m using Australian porks or Canadian porks. Don’t think I’d dare enter a comp like this, it’s clearly for proper butchers. I bet they all use nitrites though.

All fresh pork is Australian, imported pork must be cooked which is why it ends up as bacon and ham etc. Not all use nitrites. Nitirite is a naturally occuring substance, we get the majority of nitrite in our diet from green leafy vegetables.[

Got my kno3. look out for next year. Totally agree about becoming a fleishmeister. I think the farmers market at epic will have the pork I need. And there is the Balzanelli stand for some fine product. Now to mix and match threads, I’m doing my bit for chicken welfare by keeping 4 wonderful isa browns in the backyard. Talk about quality, fantastic eggs. The biggest one so far is 70 grams.

colourful sydney racing identity3:20 pm 14 Mar 12

The fix is in. How could Griffith butchery not win?

I make my own bacon, but now I don’t know if I’m using Australian porks or Canadian porks. Don’t think I’d dare enter a comp like this, it’s clearly for proper butchers. I bet they all use nitrites though.

OMG – my career aspirations have just shifted radically. Bacon judging!!!

‘The judges comprised fleishmeister Horst Schurger, who has a Master’s degree in Butchering and Smallgoods from the Master College in Mönchengladbach Germany…’

Sure it’s not in Hamburg? A Masters in Butchering and Smallgoods? You could knock me over with a short cut rasher of bacon.

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