Red Tarns and Chorizo

Red Tarns and Chorizo

It was another day at Aoraki. The weather was not as good as the previous day, however all days in the hills are great.

The Red Tarns

We went up the Red Tarns (small mountain lakes), a quick climb up the steep sides of Mt Sebastopol. The day was still and view across the valley was fantastic. Yet again I spied a sausage on a rock. I quickly identified this as a Chorizo Fresco from Martinez Charcuteria Autentica.  This is a coarsely ground sausage that is fermented and made with pimenton imported from Spain. It is a dense tasty chorizo that will have wide appeal to the kiwi sausage eater. On the continuum of chorizo that I have sampled this at the milder end of the spectrum. I doubt there is picante paprika used in the recipe. It has a very good balance of flavour between meat and spice. The melding of this flavour to get a complexity on the palate is the art of great charcuterie. This is achieved in this sausage.

Chorizo Fresco in the mountains

After the Red Tarns it was down the valley floor and a sojourn up the Hooker Valley to Hooker Hut and glacier. Hooker Hut is a restored hut that is not signposted on the track up to the Hooker Glacier. However if you know where to find the track to the hut it is well worth the trip.

Hooker Hut

If you want quality sausages, you will not be disappointed by trying both sausages I have reviewed from Martinez Charcuteria Autentica.

The friend who was with me on this trip, enquired as to why she was not included in the first post from Aoraki. She is a vegetarian and did not sample the sausages. We cooked and ate many delicious vegetarian dishes while at Aoraki, however I supplemented the diet who a few exquisite snarlers that were enjoyed in the hills.