Australia’s best home grown and made bacon has been revealed.
Queensland’s Schultes Meat Tavern was announced the overall winner of the first national competition run by Australian Pork to find our best local bacon.
The inaugural Australian PorkMark National Bacon Awards for Excellence were run by Australian Pork as part of the launch of Bacon Week which started on March 15.
Schultes was closely followed in the overall awards by second place getter Coota Valley Meats in NSW and Skara Smallgoods in SA in third place.
Shultes was also the winner in the Full Rasher category followed by Coota Valley Meats, and Skara Smallgoods.
Meanwhile, Willhome Farm Fresh Meats in Victoria took out the award for best bacon in the Low Fat category, followed by Kanmantoo Bacon Company in SA and Lucas Quality Meats in NSW.
With the theme “Bringing Home the Bacon” Bacon Week is part of Australia Pork’s push to raise awareness about the amount of imported bacon in Australia and to make it easier for foodservice operators and consumers to select local product.
The national bacon awards were judged from a total of 45 producers around the country in the two categories. The judges included two chefs with broad international experience including working in Michelin starred restaurants, cruise liners and premier teaching institutions, along with a Fleischmeister with a Masters degree in Butchering and Smallgoods from the Master College in Monchen Gladbach, Germany.
Each entry was judged based on 10 individual criteria (raw and cooked), taking into account the curing process, aroma, texture, taste and shrinkage when cooked. These criteria were developed by the judges as being crucial to producing great quality bacon.
The winners were announced this week at a charcuterie laden event held at Pendolino Restaurant in Sydney where lucky guests sampled top Australian products that ranged from lardo from Dolce Vita Sydney and pure pork salami from Borgo Smallgoods in Queensland, to jamon from San Jose Smallgoods in SA, and pancetta from Princi Smallgoods in WA, washed down by Piggs Peake wines from the Hunter Valley.
