New Zealand’s creative culinary ingenuity shone bright in the winners of the eleventh annual Pork, Bacon and Ham Awards. The competition, which took place in July, provided more than 40 pork retailers from across the country with the chance to showcase their best and most innovative New Zealand born and raised pork products.
Head judge and chef Glenn Curphey says this years’ awards showcased the talent and ingenuity of Kiwi butchers, who continue to produce high-quality NZ pork products every year.
“This year’s award winners are a testament to the professionalism and creativity of New Zealand butchers,” said Curphey. “There were some truly outstanding and original products – from nitrate free, coconut cured bacon, to banarama dry cured bacon and even a pork bacon bomb.”
Among the winners announced last night were this year’s supreme champions: Sam’s Butchery for Streaky Maple Bacon in the Bacon category, Best Meats 2 for Dufty Ham in the Ham category, and Grey Lynn Butchers for Guanciale, or cured pork cheek in the Pork category.
Grey Lynn Butchers also won the supreme award for pork last year and took home an additional 3 awards last night – including Gold for Innovative Pork, Silver for Boneless Ham and Silver for Convenient Pork.
NZPork founded the awards over 11 years ago to provide local retailers with the opportunity to showcase PigCare Accredited New Zealand pork products.
