2011 Taste Of The West Medal Haul

We entered four types of sausage in this year's Taste Of The West awards and all four won medals; three golds and a silver. That's one more gold than last year so we're rather pleased with that result.

The competition came a little too early to enter our new Black Pudding and Pork sausages, the latest addition to our range and absolutely spiffing with a Full English!

Here's the list:

Traditional Pork Sausages: Gold

Pork With Cracked Black Pepper: Gold

Pork with Stilton and Cider: Gold

Pork and Glastonbury Ale: Silver

Our Web-Mistress urges you to try the Pork with Glastonbury Ale - if they don't get a gold next year, she's promised to eat her hat!

Not bad, eh? If you haven't tried the Black Pudding sausages yet, they are now on the website and available at our regular market spots.

More Golds For The Sausage Shed in 2011

This year we entered the National Federation of Meat & Food Traders competition and we're thrilled to announce that we waltzed off with FOUR gold medals. Now, that would be grand in itself, but it's even better because two of the golds were for our brand new flavours. Here's the list:

Pork with Glastonbury Ale Sausages: Gold

Stilton, Cider and Pork Sausages: Gold

Pork with Cracked Black Pepper Sausages: Gold

Traditional Pork Sausages: Gold

We didn't manage to get the Pork with Jalapeno Peppers sausages ready in time for the competition, but you can try them before the judges, as they're already on the website.

Ivan in running for Best Sausage

November 2nd will see a number of butchers gathered at the Clifton Sausage restaurant in Bristol. They are competing for theBritish Sausage Appreciation Society's south west region's prize, which is part of British Sausage Week.

Ivan is one of nine butchers selected to go through to this prestigious competition with his Traditional Pork sausages. Let's hope the judges like his sausages as much as we do!

Other News This Week

Ivan's sausages were shortlisted as finalists for the Country Life Best British Sausage judging in London. Although Ivan's sausages didn't take the prize, they were well liked by the judges and beat a lot of other entrants to the final. Maybe next year...

Four Out Of Four Ain't Bad

Last night, 22nd September, Ivan went to the BPEX South West Regional championships in Exeter with four entries: traditional pork, black pepper, marmalade and apple & rhubarb sausages. All four entries won GOLD medals, scoring between 97 and 99 out of 100 possible points.

Of course, you may have noticed that we snuck in a new flavoured sausage: apple and rhubarb. Ivan has been experimenting in his pristine, shiny sausage shed and like the alchemists of old, he has struck gold with some simple but luscious ingredients. The apple and rhubarb sausages scored 99 out of 100 in the BPEX awards and they are now on sale - after all, we wouldn't want to offer anything but the best to you, would we?

The Only Gold Medal Taste Of The West Sausage Maker in Somerset!

Yes, that's right, the only gold medal sausage maker in Somerset. This year's Taste Of The West awards offered new challenges and much higher standards to achieve those coveted gold medals. In 2009, Taste Of The West awarded 13 golds, and only six were awarded this year, 2010. The bar had been raised (and we're delighted about that, because we think sausages are important!) and the competition was fierce.

So, how did we do? Would it be immodest to tell you that we won a third of all the gold medals and that we were the only sausage maker in Somerset to win a gold at these awards? Immodest maybe, we've been cackling with delight ever since the awards and good old Ivan is feeling vindicated that his recipes are the cat's pyjamas!

What did we get? Two golds and four silvers including our new, super-yummy Scotch Eggs. Here's the list:

Traditional Pork Sausages: Gold

Pork With Cracked Black Pepper: Gold

Pork and Burowhill Cider Sausages: Silver

Pork with Barber's 1833 Cheddar and Burrow Hill Cider: Silver

Pork With marmalade Sausages: Silver

Scotch Eggs: Silver

Not bad, eh? If you haven't tried the Barbers 1833 Cheddar and Burrow Hill Cider sausages yet, shame on you. Don't forget that there's an offer on for the next ten days or so that will let you buy Traditional Pork sausages and get our award winning Scotch Eggs FREE - don't hang about though, the offer ends as school starts.

We're in the running to be Champion of Champions!

On a blustery early November morning, Ivan set off, armed with his best sausages, heading for Bristol. It was the Britain's Magical Bangers competition for the south west area, a part of British Sausage Week, and Ivan was a contender. Against stiff competition, he scooped the title of South West Champion and will now go forward to the National Finals held at Smithfield, London next year. Read more here...

More Golds from BPEX

Goodness, we don't like to brag, but... well, we cleaned up at the BPEX awards this year taking a full set of golds for every entry.

Traditional Pork Sausages: Gold

Pork With marmalade Sausages: Gold

Pork and Burowhill Cider Sausages: Gold

Pork with Barber's 1833 Cheddar and Burrow Hill Cider: Gold

You've all heard the expression "Life's too short to stuff a mushroom", we have a better one!

Life's too short to eat dodgy sausages!

Pork with Barber's 1833 Cheddar and Burrow Hill Cider

Born of a conversation with another fine food producer and enthusiast, The Sausage Shed have launched Pork with Barber's 1833 Cheddar and Burrow Hill Cider sausages and they're creating a storm... of enjoyment! Available from the website and local markets, why not try some now?

Our Autumn 2009 Medal Haul

Never being ones to sit back on our laurels, we entered the Taste Of The West competition with our traditional pork, pork and marmalade, pork and Burrowhill cider and mustard, pork with cracked black pepper and pork with balsamic vinegar and onion sausages and here are the results:

Traditional Pork Sausages: Gold

Pork With marmalade Sausages: Gold

Pork and Burowhill Cider Sausages: Gold

Pork With Cracked Black Pepper Sausages: Gold

Pork With Balsamic Vinegar And Onion Sausages: Silver

We're pretty pleased with that set of results and next year will be a challenge to top it, but we have our wonderful Pork and Garlic Sausages as a secret weapon!

New Flavours

We have been trialing a new sausage, Pork and Garlic, and so far, it seems to be very popular. W are now going to regularly produce Pork and Garlic sausages and they will be available online too.

Taste tests have yielded comments like "Oh boy! These are utterly lush!" and "The garlic is strong enough to give these sausages a real kick and they will go with just about anything; delicious"

Now, there's just one thing we think we ought to warn you about. These sausages aren't for namby-pambies and if you have an important interview or are meeting a new date it may be better to eat these sausages after the event rather than before. Don't say you haven't been warned!

Gluten Free Sausages

How miserable would it be to know that Sausage Shed sausages are so delicious and have a gluten intolerance? Well, it's not a problem any more, as Ivan has worked his magic and now produces Gluten Free Sausages. You can order these by phoning or online. Not bad, eh?

To all of you, from us at The Sausage Shed - Thank you for reading and happy shopping!