412-414 George Street, Sydney 2000
http://www.pendolino.com.au
Tonight's tasting table looked very much like a custom officers worst nightmare at Sydney Airport but they would have had nothing to fear as all the pork products were completely produced in Australia. The dimly lit Olive Oil room at Pendolino was the chosen venue for announcing the winners of Australia’s best bacon, in the nation’s first ever Bacon Week, 15 – 21 March. The pork industry producer’s body, Australian Pork Limited (APL), launched the initiative to highlight the pink square Australian PorkMark – the only guaranteed way you can choose 100 per cent home grown and manufactured bacon. This initiative came about because Australia’s pork industry continues to face huge challenges from the massive amounts of frozen pork landing in Australia from highly subsidised agricultural countries like Denmark, Canada and the United States. In fact 70 per cent of bacon, ham and smallgoods products bought in Australia are made from overseas subsidised pork.
APL CEO Andrew Spencer says: “Traditional Australian grocery labeling laws are vague. Commonly used terms such as ‘Made in Australia’ can be used on products that can contain imported meat. This becomes very confusing for consumers. The pink Australian PorkMark is your guarantee of Australian origin. “To date we have one hundred and twenty one butchers and smallgoods manufacturers Australia wide that are licensed to display the PorkMark logo on their products, which are the finest smallgoods available in Australia.
The Awards For Excellence bacon competition was open to butchers and smallgoods processors who make bacon from 100 per cent Australian pork. There were 62 different bacons from 45 manufacturers around the country that were tasted and judged, in two categories, full rasher and low fat - the most consumed types of bacon. Each entry was judged on the curing process, aroma, texture, taste and shrinkage when cooked. The essential criteria in this competition was that the pork had to be sourced from Australian grown pig meat.
For some reason I really thought I was going to get to try some good old fashioned crispy fried bacon but alas there was none to be seen tonight. But it was very enlightening to see how many different types of pork products there were on the market and I tasted them all, twice. My memorable highlights were the Lardo (Cured Pork Backfat) pictured above from Pino's Dolce Vita (Sydney) which was amazingly melt-in-your-mouth and buttery — definitely not good for the arteries. The Pure Pork Salami from Borgo Smallgoods (Brisbane) and the Jamon from San Jose Smallgoods (Adelaide) with it's nice depth of flavour and softness also stood out for me. The prosciutto from Culatello Quattro Stelle (Sydney) was tasty and buttery soft. I could appreciate the nice flavours in the Weiswurst from Euro Master (Sydney) as well. I now have a goodie bag of all of them to try again including the winner of full rasher bacon from Schultes Meat Tavern (QLD) which I'm sure I'll appreciate this weekend for breakfast with scrambled eggs. I really enjoyed the wine choices from Piggs Peake of Super Tusker Sangiovese and Pork Barrel Viognier — a few more years on the Sangiovese would have rounded off the tannin nicely.
Winners are grinners
Over All
1st - Schultes Meat Tavern, Plainland QLD
2nd - Coota Valley Meats, Engadine NSW
3rd - Skara Smallgoods, Nairne SA
Full Rasher
1st - Schultes Meat Tavern, Plainland QLD
2nd - Coota Valley Meats, Engadine NSW
3rd - Skara Smallgoods, Nairne SA
Low Fat
1st - Willhome Farm Fresh Meats, Swan Hill Vic
2nd - Kanmantoo Bacon Company, Kanmantoo SA
3rd - Lucas Quality Meats, Bronte NSW
Other visits to Pendolino:
• 15 March 2010 - Bacon Week Launch
• 15 July 2009 - Vincisgrassi, Cotoletta alla milanese
Other National Bacon Week Launch events:
• 7 March 2011 – Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre
• 15 March 2010 – Pendolino media launch
• 7 March 2011 – Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre
• 15 March 2010 – Pendolino media launch
A big thanks to Stewart White from Whiteworks Public Relations for inviting me along to the launch.
Pork products sampled
Guanciale Campisi Butchery Sydney Cured Pork Cheek
Lardo Pino's Dolce Vita Sydney Cured Pork Backfat
Pancetta Princi Perth Traditional Italian cured bacon
Olives
Olive oil
Pendolino
Spaghetti carbonara
Friendly pork lovers
Goodie Bag
How did they fit this all into that little bag I'll never know
WINNER
Bacon Rashers from Schulte's Meat Tavern, Plainland QLD
BB Products Lachs Schinken
Borgo Smallgoods Pure Pork Sausage, Prosciutto Borgo
Euro Master Smallgoods: Weisswurst, Swiss Bratwurst, German/Swiss Cheese Sausage, Chabay/Czabia 'spicy' farm style
The Black Pig Hand made charcuterie
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