A butcher’s shop in Lockhart has earned the proud accolade of making the best sausages in the Riverina and it has an award to prove it.

Lockhart Gourmet Meats has made a clean sweep in the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) Sausage King, Best Butcher’s Burger and Smallgoods competition.

The local family-owned store raised its profile in the best possible way, competing against the best butchers in the region.

Lockhart Gourmet Meats seized the first three placings to be crowned kabana (cabanossi style) sausage kings in the AMIC NSW Southern and ACT Smallgoods Cooked Product category.

The team’s blueberry, maple and bacon sausage was placed first, while a sweet chilli and cheese took out second place with a chilli pepper in third.

The team also placed third in the bacon rasher category.

Lockhart Gourmet Meats owner Jared Walker praised his butcher Russell Gleeson for creating the winning recipes.

“Russell has been making the kabana sausages for 30 years plus,” Mr Walker said.

“He’s had the sweet chilli and cheese and the chilli pepper stored in his memory from when he was an apprentice.

“With the winning sausage, a customer asked if we could make something like that, so with a lot of trial and error we came up with the right combination.

“Russell is very consistent with his measures in making the Kabanas.

“We gave him a free rein to come up with something and we had the confidence to back him and it paid off.”

Mr Walker described the winning recipe of blueberry, maple and bacon as “sweet and savoury”.

“It’s different but it works,” he said.

“They’re quite delicious and a spin on something you normally wouldn’t get.

“We sell them all at our shop and people love them for their authenticity.

“So now we can say we sell award winning products as well as quality products.”

The next step for the local butcher’s store is to take on the best of the best in the whole of New South Wales as the NSW Southern and ACT representative.

Mr Walker is confident the tasty sausages will have a good chance of being chosen as the best in the state.

“We have to enter the same sausages again in the NSW finals,” he said.

“I reckon we’ll win again because of the innovation that goes a long way in these competitions.

“It’s the first time we’ve entered the keditorabana category so it’s really a compliment to our butcher.”

Lockhart Gourmet Meats will compete in the AMIC state final in November.

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 9 June 2022.