FANS of the frying pan have three new heroes following this week's Scottish Craft Butchers Awards, which has named the country's top makers of square sausage, black pudding and beef links.

Lifting the honours for the square sausage (or Lorne) was Culloden butcher Ali Paul, of A & I Quality Butchers, who has been in the trade for 45 years – and likened his success to an athlete winning gold at the Olympics.

"I don't think people realise what a significant thing this is for a butcher," said Mr Paul. "Sliced sausage is one of the pillars of the butchers trade and to be judged the best in Scotland is absolutely thrilling - it's a huge achievement."

But Mr Paul is keeping the secret of his success close to his chest, saying only that he used locally-sourced quality beef, combined with the correct ratio of fat, rusks, water and seasoning.

"We're making around 50 bars of 20 slices each week, but I expect we'll have to increase production to cope with the rush of customers a national title invariably brings."

He dedicated the championship to his 16-strong team, who he said had 'pulled out all the stops' to ensure the loc al community was fed during the Covid pandemic.

"We went from delivering 30 orders a week before the crisis to 300 orders a week throughout," he said. "We refused no one and the staff were fantastic - they just dug in and got on with it.

"To be crowned Scottish Champions for our square sausage is something they can all take pride in, knowing it's just reward for a job well done."

Meanwhile, the Black Pudding national title heads back to Wemyss Bay where butcher Nigel Ovens at McCaskie's welcomed its return after 18 years, having last lifted the championship in 2004, although he was runner-up in 2012 and West of Scotland regional champion in 2014 and 2016.

"We worked really hard to perfect the recipe and give us a fighting chance to bring the championship title back to McCaskie's," said Nigel, who learned of his success on his 45th birthday.

"This is just the best birthday present ever," he said. "I feel amazing – we're so pleased and thrilled to have regained the crown. It's a fantastic lift for us all at the start of another year.

"Black pudding is one of the most important butchers' traditional staples in Scotland and it's now evolved into a gourmet ingredient in fine dining establishments as well as on our family breakfast tables.

"When I joined the family firm our black pudding was terrible. It was the first thing I changed and it became a passionate crusade on my part to transform the recipe into something special. Now we're producing up to 1000 lbs of black pudding each week to supply customers all across the UK.To lift the national Scottish championship twice is just fantastic – we really feel the title's back where it belongs."

In Arbroath, staff at the newly-crowned Scottish Beef Link Sausage Champion 2022, D H Robertson, were overjoyed with their success.

Owner Steven Bennett revealed that the championship-winning sausage was a recipe never entered for competition before: "We've been working on an old recipe that I was given when I was an apprentice.

"We entered it for the championship in hope rather than expectation and we're absolutely overwhelmed to emerge as champions – it's just fantastic. To know we make the best beef link sausages in Scotland takes a little bit of getting used to but we're thrilled to bits."

Read more:

Mr Bennett praised his young apprentices who have been in charge of the sausage development and production: "The pressure is now on to make sure we produce plenty beef links to let everyone taste the best in Scotland," he said. "We will be ensuring we don't let the quality slip."

Pork and beef links account for a large part of D H Robertson's business, using locally sourced top quality meat and handmade at the shop.

"Our customers will be thrilled at our success," added Mr Bennett. "They're very loyal and supportive and the touching feedback we receive when we do well is just amazing.  A Scottish Championship for a core product is hard to beat so we'll be dining out on this for a long time to come."

The Scottish Craft Butchers Awards 2022 attracted hundreds of entries from all across Scotland. SCB president Tom Courts said the standard displayed in the competition typified the quality produced by craft butchers in every part of the country.

"It's great to see butchers vying for the accolades again after Covid," said Mr Courts, "and we're seeing the very best of the best take this year's championships. It gives a butcher a great lift to know his products are judged to be the best in Scotland and customers can be assured that the championship-winning product they buy across the counter at these butchers is exactly the same as those that secured the judges' vote in the competition."

Read more:

NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy and chief executive Scott Walker had the privilege of judging the championship final.  Speaking afterwards, Mr Kennedy said: “Scotland’s craft butchers have an incredible reputation for producing high quality, innovative products and getting to taste the very best the nation has to offer was an honour for us both.

“The nation’s butchers remain huge and loyal supporters of our red meat sector and their role in relaying to the public our fantastic story on local, sustainable, welfare and environment-friendly beef, lamb, pork and chicken is pivotal.  It is no surprise that consumers have increasingly turned to butchers throughout the pandemic for reassurances on where their meat comes from and how it has been reared.

“And with such high-quality products, like those that made it to the final, the future for Scottish Craft Butchers is assured.”