The winners of Australian Pork’s annual PorkMark Bacon Awards have been announced. The awards are part of Australian Bacon Week, which encourages consumers and chefs to use Australian-produced bacon.
The week draws attention to the competition locally-produced pork smallgoods face, with more than 72 percent of ham and bacon being imported.
Three judges – Horst Schurger, who has a Masters degree in butchering and smallgoods, and chefs Simon Bestley and Paul McDonald – assessed 114 entries over two days, independently assessing the appearance, flavour and other characteristics of each entry.
The national winner was Adam Zammit, of Zammit Ham and Bacon Curers, a family owned and operated business established in 1952, which handles the production of hams through all its stages. Zammit also won the national full rasher segment of the competition.
The national short cut winners were:
1st Benjamin Barrow of TAFE NSW SWSi Gourmet Meats in Granville, NSW
2nd Daniel Sauer of Bargara Meats in Bagara, QLD
3rd Tim Rose of Premier Meats in Tenterfield, NSW
The national full rasher winners were:
1st Adam Zammit of Zammit Ham and Bacon in Pendle Hill, NSW
2nd Bernie Nolan of Circle T Meats in Raceview, QLD
3rd Don Cameron of Master Butchers Whitsunday in Cannonvale, QLD
A full list of state winners for short cut and full rasher can be viewed here.
