28 October 2013

NEW ZEALAND's BEST HAM

I was asked to judge the annual NZ bacon and ham awards this year. Held in Wellington, it is a full-on day where judging teams of four, comprosed of chefs, butchers, food technologists and food experts (that's me) eat through anywhere from 20-40 entries in any given category.

The most important point about the competition is that entries must be hams and bacon made from 100% New Zeaalnd raised pork - a pretty important point if you appreciate local artisan products.

On the day I judged the cured sliced and smoked bacon, and a lovely sweet, smoky bacon that had been cured with maple syrup and smoked over manuka was a clear winner in our category. Whenever I do something like that I like to learn and the butcher on our judging panel pointed out the rather marked difference between male and female pork - it's a sensory strong aroma that pervades the male pork which is not always as sweet as the female variety!

Back in Auckland I was invited to speak at the ceremony for awarding a gold medal to the Pokeno Bacon Company at their retail butcher shop in Mt Eden Village for their sliced ham. The owners, Helen and John Clotworthy, pictured above, were delighted to receive their gold plaque.

Their ham was an absolutely beautiful sliced ham with a great balance of flavours; sweet and salty. It was very visually appealing with a lovely dark rind and great meaty texture.

Only two other golds were awarded in the country for ham; to Waitaki Bacon and Ham for their succulent sliced ham(buy it in Oamaru or at the Dunedin farmers market) and to Christchurch company, Cattermoles of Kaiapoi for their ham on the bone.

I took some ham and egg sandwiches with me to the prizegiving and have posted the recipe in the recipe section of this blog.