Beef Bangers from Buzz the Butcher.

Beef Bangers from Buzz the Butcher.

I was in Taranaki and decided to visit the main tourist attractions in the town – where else but Westown Butchery and The Fridge. Forget about the Len Lye Centre or Pukekura Park, if you are after a quality experience you need to check out these two butcher’s shops.

My mum lives just down the road from the Westown Butchery. Buzz’s beef banger won gold in the NZ Sausage Awards of 2007. Buzz the Butcher tells me they sell a lot of this award winning sausage and some days it is hard to keep up with the demand. I took the sausage home to Wellington and cooked it up prior to a slow trip into the hills. I am testing my leg after last year’s escapade. I still walk with an uneven gait – some people call this a limp, however I am working hard on eliminating this trait.

A climb over the saddle and into Smith’s Creek and the Tauherenikau River valley was an enjoyable way to spend the day. It was beautiful autumnal day for munching on a lunch of quality snarlers by the river – to be savoured. The beef banger is a fine to medium ground sausage. The dominant flavour is hearty beef, you know you are eating a meaty sausage. This is a sausage that will have mass appeal. I can understand why this sausage was judged best in the country in 2007.

If you are in New Plymouth I recommend a visit to the Westown Butcher, best be early or the beef bangers may be gone. You may also like to sample the gold medal winning middle eye bacon. This is a quality butcher’s shop, I would suggest you go along and get some snarlers from Buzz the Butcher.

Cost per kilo: $17.99