Two Food NI members have been successful in the annual British Sausage Awards – a central feature of UK Sausage Week!

The Event

The event is held to celebrate and promote the great British sausage!  The competition attracts butchers from all over the UK!

It runs from 29^th October to 4^th November.

The promotion is supported by Meat Management magazine.

Companies throughout the UK are provided with promotional material. They can use this on their packaging and labelling.

This includes the official UK Sausage Week poster and logo!

It also produces recipes for delicious sausage dishes.

 

The Awards

Successful in the category for Northern Ireland independent butchers were:

Traditional – Traditional Thin Pork Breakfast Sausage (Gluten Free) – Hannan Meats of Moira, Co Armagh

Innovative – Blackgate Signature Honey Roast Pork Sausages – Finnebrogue Artisan of Downpatrick, Co Down

 

 

 

The prestigious awards were announced at a major event in London on Monday.

Butchers, manufacturers, retailers and trade associations in the UK are promoting the great British sausage during the week.

This includes hosting their own sausage events, special promotions, new product launches, competitions and tastings for the sausages.

 

For more information on the awards and winners – click here : https://uksausageweek.com

For more information on Hannan Meats – click here : https://www.nigoodfood.com/producers/hannan-meats/

For more information on Finnebrogue Artisan – click here : https://www.nigoodfood.com/producers/finnebrogue-artisan/ 

Erne Larder Preserves

Enniskillen based company, Erne Larder Preserves have launched a new Whiskey based marmalade.

 

They “specialise in classic & new age preserves as well as pestos, curds & sauces, we cater for retail & catering customers. The number one seller & most unique product is the dry cured smoked bacon jam.”

 

For more information on Erne Larder Preserves – click here : https://the-erne-larder-preserves.business.site

 

The business is owned by experienced chef, Declan O’Donoghue. O’Donoghue, already renowned for his Irish Bacon Jam and Irish Bacon Ketchup, set up Erne Larder Preserves in 2016.

 

In addition to supplying local shops in Northern Ireland –  Erne Larder has recently began business with German discounter Lidl. Lidl will be stocking the unique bacon jam in the North and South of Ireland.

 

The Product

The marmalade, features an Irish whiskey.

Declan O’Donaghue has said he hopes to replace the Irish whiskey, with Enniskillen’s Boatyard Distillery’s Whiskey – as soon as it becomes available.

 

The Boatyard Distillery is only a 20 minute drive from Erne Larder Preserves – you can’t get much more local than that!

For more information on the Boatyard Distillery – click here : https://boatyarddistillery.com

 

“It’s not a traditional marmalade,” Mr O’Donoghue says. “My version is based on my own recipe and a modern production technique.”

 

Looking outside of the North and South of Ireland, O’Donoghue has turned his focus to tourists. Especially those from the USA – he realises the potential and the huge consumer market they could provide.

 

“I believe the new jam is an ideal souvenir from Ireland for visitors and it also makes a great gift,” he says.

Denis Lynn has won the Innovation Category in the Director of the Year Awards 2018. Lynn is the chairman of Lynn’s Country Foods and Finnebrogue Artisan.

Food NI member – Finnebrogue Artisan is the UK market leader in sausages. They have become a pioneer of flexitarian (plant based with some meat) products for major retailers, in recent years.

Mr Lynn established Lynn’s Country Foods in 1985. The business subsequently developed a range of venison products before diversifying into sausages.

The Products

Mr Lynn won the prestigious award for his development of the revolutionary Naked Bacon. Naked Bacon is an e-number and nitrite-free bacon! The release of the bacon was closely followed by the release of Naked Ham and Naked Sausages.

 

“Despite being the country’s leading top tier sausage maker, we had never made a single rasher of bacon or slice of ham because we couldn’t work out how to do it without adding nitrites. For more than a decade I have insisted we not touch bacon or ham until we could make it better and safer ~ and now we have.”

– Denis Lynn

 

The judges chose Mr Lynn for a “brilliant product development for world better health”.

The product “showed a different approach to challenges, good business growth”.

Finnebrogue Artisan, based in Downpatrick, launched the Naked Free Bacon with major UK retailers, including Marks and Spencer, in January. The products are now on sale throughout the UK by the main supermarket chains.

 

The Awards

The Director of the Year Awards are organised by the Institute of Directors.

The finals of the Director of the Year Awards attracted some of Britain’s top business talent and recognised exceptional leadership and good governance.

The occasion brought together the winners and directors across the business spectrum from all over to establish the ‘best of the best’ in British business.

A panel of judges chose the winners. This panel is filled with experienced individuals with years of expertise. The judges come from IoD and the wider business community to  celebrate the awards.

For more details about Naked Bacon – click here : http://www.finnebrogue.com 

The best biltong in Ireland is produced near Ballyclare in Co Antrim by Ke Nako Biltong, an artisan business producing premium cured meats.

Food NI member Ke Nako Biltong, a small business established by chef/butcher Ilse van Staden, originally from Pretoria in South Africa, and lecturer Alanagh Chipperfield in 2012, won the gold award for its richly flavoured and hand cured biltong at the influential Blas na hEireann, Irish National Food Awards in Dingle.

BBC Award

The award follows their success in winning BBC TV’s Top of the Shop series earlier in the year.

The artisan business, based on Ballylagan Organic Farm, has developed an impressive portfolio of authentic South African cured meats including biltong, Droewors, chilli bites and stokkies, a low-fat, high protein snack.

“We were thrilled to receive the Blas gold. It was a marvellous endorsement by an expert judging panel of the quality and outstanding taste of our biltong. It’s great to see our biltong being acclaimed as Ireland’s best,” says Alanagh.

What Ilse has done is to use her knowledge and experience as a chef to create a new role as a food producer specialising in the cured meats she grew up loving in South Africa. “I looked at the local food industry and spotted an opportunity to create authentic biltong and other cured meat products from South Africa,” Ilse explains.

“Biltong has long been popular in South Africa as a snack in particular because it’s rich in protein and especially popular with rugby players and other sports people as an aid to recovery after training and games,” she continues. “This is because it’s an excellent source of vital minerals like zinc, iron, magnesium and vitamin B-12; all essential for the body to function,” she adds.

Together they have created a unique biltong recipe using organic beef that’s been cured in organic red wine vinegar with a rich blend of spices from salt, black pepper, coriander seeds, nutmeg, and cloves before being air-dried in premises on the farm.

Working closely with three local farmers they use quality organically reared beef such as brisket, topside and silverside.

The biltong, and other cured meats, is now being marketed to delis and farm shops in Northern Ireland and through internet sales from their website www.kenakobiltong.co.uk.

 

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