Namoi River Meats takes out top spots in Sausage and Burger King Competition in Tamworth

In Tamworth last week, Namoi River Meats smoked out the competition in a sizzling display of culinary skills at the Sausage King and Best Burger Competition at the city’s TAFE Campus.

The Gunnedah butcher’s traditional thin beef sausages and sweet chilli and cheese proved to be too good to resist with the flavours taking out first place against their regional counterparts.

The business also scored second place in four categories with Thai chicken sausages and the traditional Australian pork among.

For owner Luke Orchard, sausages were the bread and butter of the butchery business and among the most popular items purchased by shoppers. He was pleased with the results, and looking forward to the next round of the competition.

“Its the core of our business, I think we did pretty well but a few more firsts would have been good," Mr Orchard said. “We really specialise in gourmet local produce.

“Everything we do is made of local ingredients, all from around the local region.

“We are pretty well supported locally, definitely for our sausages and believe we’re the only ones in the region who do a really good job on our sausages.”

Mr Orchard said his favourite and signature type of snag would be the beef sweet chilli, which earned first place in the latest competition.

“It was second in the state not last year, but the year before and has been a consistent winner,” he said.

“It was good the competition was in Tamworth. (Competitions) are a way of getting recognition for what you do, it’s trying to get people out of the supermarkets and really trying to show people to support your local, independent butcher.”

Mr Orchard was pleased the business received first place for its traditional sausages.

“It’s the one that everyone comes in and buys and to get a first for that is massive, it means you have the best sausages,” he said.

 Namoi River Meats will now proceed to the state finals in Tamworth in September.