Butchers aim to snag title at National Sausage King competition Fifth generation butcher Anthony Puharich, who has made his name with leading meat supplier Vic's Meats. Picture: Nick Wilson. THE days of the "mystery bag" sausage encasing a host of fillers, fats and offcuts is well and truly over, says the judge of this year's national Sausage King competition. Fifth generation butcher Anthony Puharich, who has made his name with leading meat supplier Vic's Meats, through his family's Victor Churchill shopfront - which looks more jewellery store than Sydney butchery - and TV's Ask The Butcher, says gourmet sausages for as much as $30kg now offer a much better class of ingredient. He hopes to elevate the humble sausage to hero status, as they are in Europe. Not only are they a staple, they are a very important key part of butchery in Europe. Sausages are held in the same sort of regard as a quality piece of beef, lamb or pork," he said. In this country, and it has certainly changed in the past 5-8 years, but sausage are seen as a bit of a byproduct. "There was no thought, no love, no care put into it," said Mr Puharich who spent a fare share of his teenage years looping sausages together at his immigrant father's butchery. In Europe the humble sausage is revered. Australians spend about $660 million on 93.3 million kilograms of sausages each year, Meat and Livestock Australia reports. Beef sausages are by far the most popular, representing three-quarters of all fresh sausages sold at retail outlets, including 3200 independent butchers nationally. Sausages are becoming trendier with more gourmet flavours. At this year's Australian Meat Industry Council National Sausage King Competition, being held on February 1 at Cypress Lakes resort in NSW's Hunter Valley, Mr Puharich has to judge six categories with entrants from all six states, more than three dozen entries in all. Judging criteria includes both the uncooked and cooked sausage "beauty pageant." In the uncooked category, Mr Puharich must look for "fresh" appeal, good colour or bloom, consider if the product is well made and well filled out, or if it is distorted or inconsistent. In the cooked category he must appraise splitting or crinkling, and shrinkage in length or diameter. Then it comes down to flavour and texture. Categories include traditional Australian bangers, which can be made of beef and may have lamb and/or pork), plus spices and flavourings but must not contain any additional ingredients such as tomato. Other classes include lamb, pork, poultry, continental and gourmet. And all sausages entered must meet the requirements of the Australian Food Standards Code which states that a sausage must contain "at least 50 per cent fat-free meat flesh" and a maximum of fat which is 50 per cent of the fat-free meat flesh. There is certainly a technical approach to judging sausages and smallgoods, but for me it really comes down to the two most important things, which is flavour and texture. Appearance is important, I get that, but I have never been one to judge a book by its cover. The event also includes a National Apprentice Mystery Box Competition for state winners and the announcement of a Master Butcher program at Saturday's gala dinner.