October the 14th is a day every Kiwi should celebrate. Our love of sausages — second only to mince according to my butcher — is being marked with the great New Zealand sausage competition where hundreds of sausages in 12 categories will be judged by a team of culinary experts.
Traditional beef and pork sausages will be in the line-up as well as chicken, continental smoked and fresh, black pudding, pre-cooked, flavoured, ready-to-eat and gourmet varieties.
Black pudding is a rather intriguing sausage mainly because of its colour. It is a type of mild-flavoured blood sausage generally prepared from pork and beef and popular on the breakfast table in the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe. It can be enjoyed cold as it is pre-cooked, or fried. It’s become a trendy accompaniment in restaurant meals and a novelty in black pudding icecream.
Bratwurst is a type of German sausage made from veal, pork or beef. The name is derived from ‘brät’ — finely chopped meat, and ‘wurst’ — sausage. There are fresh and pre-cooked, pale-coloured veal bratwurst available plus the more highly coloured and flavoursome beef bratwurst. They’re excellent served with sauerkraut.
The hunter sausage originated in Poland and because the smoke preserved the sausage, it was the ideal food to take on hunting expeditions. It’s a little like a narrow salami and different brands differ in flavour. These sausages make great snacks. They can be added to salads and pasta dishes and are tasty heated through briefly together with caramelised onions.
Traditional fresh chicken sausages are prepared from 87 per cent chicken meat and their mild flavour makes them a winner with young and old. They cook in five to eight minutes on the barbecue or in a frying pan.
Potato, black pudding and egg bake
An all-rounder — great for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. Get the recipe
Hunter sausage salad with New York mustard dressing
I used Barkers New Yorker Mustard Relish to add punch to the salad dressing. Get the recipe
Bratwurst stuffed with balsamic mushrooms
I used fresh beef-based bratwurst from the butcher. Great served in a long roll for a weekend lunch together with sauerkraut. Get the recipe
