Te Kamo butcher Omak Meats wins silver at National Sausage Competition

Several Northland rugby players enjoyed a sausage-making workshop hosted by Te Kamo's award-winning Omak Butchery earlier this year.

A pork sausage crafted in Te Kamo has taken silver at the Dunninghams Great New Zealand Sausage Competition.

Omak Meats, which has been in business for 30 years, entered the national contest for the first time this year, submitting four products including black pudding, Cumberland, beef, and pork sausages.

The competition, in its 28th year, was fierce with 814 entries from around New Zealand vying for places in 13 categories.

Omak’s pork entry earned second place in one of the most competitive categories – the beef and pork sections which typically drew the highest number of entries, Omak general manager Karina Chapman said.

And, the team was “pretty chuffed” with the result, she said.

Omak Meat owners and directors Chris and Sharon Martin celebrate their silver medal product at the Dunninghams awards dinner.

“We always knew we had a good product,” Chapman said.

“We get a lot of feedback from our customers, but now we’ve got the certification to prove it.”

Omak operates from what Chapman described as a deceivingly small retail frontage on Te Kamo Rd.’

However, stretching out behind it is a large wholesale operation with 17 staff, supplying about 75% of the company’s overall product to Northland cafes, bars and restaurants (for which it has previously won Northland Hospitality awards).

The pork sausage recipe was fine-tuned by one of the store’s two owner/co-directors Chris Martin before submission. He and his wife Sharon Martin have owned the business for more than 30 years.

Entries to the annual Dunningham’s competition were submitted frozen and anonymously repackaged to ensure impartiality. Each sausage was judged in its uncooked state by a technical judge, followed by an assessment by two aesthetic judges of the cooked product.

Competition organisers said marks were awarded for visual appearance and technical composition but the most weight was put on taste, texture and aroma.

Because of the high volume of entries a standardisation system was introduced this year to ensure fairness across multiple judging panels, the organisers said online.

Behind Omak's deceivingly-small retail frontage in Te Kamo, lies a large wholesale operation employing 17 staff and supplying about 75% of the company's overall product to cafes, bars and restaurants across Northland.

Mystery shopping of category winners was used to determine the overall Supreme winner.

Chapman said while Omak didn’t take a top place this year, the silver award was a major achievement for its first time entering the competition.

She believed other Northland entrants had included Mangawhai Meat Shop, Coopers Beach Butchery, and Webster Family Butchery, but Omak was the only one to medal.

The gold in the pork category went to Hellers, and Westmere Butchery in Auckland took out the Supreme Award for its Beef, Parmesan and Truffle sausage – it’s fourth Supreme award in the past decade.

The People’s Choice award went to Pōkeno Bacon for its Chicken Con Queso sausage.

A full list of the medal-winning sausages is available here.

Westmere Butchery owner Dave Rossiter’s helpful tips for getting the best out of sausages this barbecue season are:

• Don’t overcook them – cook on medium heat to avoid bursting the casing.
• Don’t prick them – “You don’t want to lose all the moisture from the sausages.”
• Use a fry pan or grill – not the oven, which dries them out.
• Turn them occasionally – cook time is about 20 minutes.
• Use a little oil – but not too much.

Rossiter said the key to a great sausage is balance: “The main thing is that the flavour of the meat comes through”.

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.