Stepping into the shoes of Kel Knight, the much-loved gourmet snag maker from Kath and Kim, 1233 producer Ben Millington ventured into the rareified world of fine sausages when he was asked to help judge the regional finals of the nationwide Sausage King competition.
Butchers from around Newcastle, the Hunter and the Central Coast gathered at Hunter TAFE, vying for a spot in the NSW finals and a crack at becoming our national Sausage King.
And it's not just the standard snag in contention. The categories include traditional, pork, poultry, lamb, Continental and gourmet.
They're judged on visual appearance (both raw and cooked), aroma, texture and flavour.
Ben found it a tougher challenge than he was expecting, especially judging the "traditional" category.
"It's pretty hard," he says. "They all look the same, they taste the same, they feel the same!
"The good news is, they all taste delicious."
He was looking forward to the other more varied categories, such as poultry which features exotic flavours including chicken/apple/fennel, chicken/fetta/sundried tomato and honey chicken with sweet corn.
Ben decided to boost his sausage-tasting skills by getting some tips from the master.
Peter Frost, meat programs teacher at Hunter TAFE, has been judging sausages for more than 20 years and making them for 50.
He says Newcastle can hold its head high in the sausage world, the quality of the local product is so high.
Next week Peter will be judging at the Fine Foods Show in Sydney, and says the local snags "are equal to any of those that we judge in Sydney".
We don't usually think of sausages as a wildly attractive food, but Peter says visual aspects are important.
"One of the things that we need to look for is eye appeal," Peter says.
Judges look at the bangers both raw and cooked to check if they hold together well, and of course flavour is crucial.
"I guess it's a bit like tasting wine, does it taste good in the mouth after you've tasted the product?" Peter explains.
These days the Aussie sausage scene is much more sophisticated, Peter says, as many butchers have travelled overseas and sampled the wares of master butchers in countries like Germany, France and Italy.
"Of course they bring those ideas back, and they come back with great ideas and are very innovative," he says.
Tasting sausages all day does have its downside, apparently.
"When you get to the end of the day you know that you've been really tasting, and I must say that your tastebuds do start to get a little bit jaded," Peter warns. He advises sampling the sliced apple and biscuits that are provided, along with plenty of water.
Another pitfall for a sausage judge, as rookie Ben found, is getting too full.
For that reason, discreet "receptacles" are provided, but at press time Ben still hadn't been able to bring himself to spit out any of those delicious sizzling sausages.
Kel would be proud.
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