Cambuslang butchers, Hugh Black & Sons has been crowned new Scottish Champions at the recent Traditional Sliced Sausage competition.
Their Traditional Sliced Sausage was selected as one of the best in the West of Scotland at the evaluation event held in Glasgow last month and then at a second stage judging, fought off the challenge of the other regional qualifiers to become 2014 Scottish Champions.
[gallery type="slideshow" ids="https://d34wkqkcvmkqx1.cloudfront.net/CMS/s3/ymg-library/web/images/2014/09/DSC_8422.jpg|Robert Watson of sponsors McAusland Crawford presenting the trophy for Best Sliced Sausage in Scotland.,https://d34wkqkcvmkqx1.cloudfront.net/CMS/s3/ymg-library/web/images/2014/09/DSC_8400.jpg|Slice of success,https://d34wkqkcvmkqx1.cloudfront.net/CMS/s3/ymg-library/web/images/2014/09/DSC_8406.jpg|Hugh Black celebrating success."]
Organised by Scottish Federation of Meat Traders, the competition which was sponsored by seasoning blenders, McAusland Crawford, attracted 70 entries from all over Scotland. Once the top two in each of the five regions were established, they were mystery shopped with the products bought over the counter on 28th August. The following day, the Sliced Sausages were then further considered by a panel of experts at City of Glasgow College and at that Blacks were selected as the best and so pick up the Scottish title.
Blacks were delighted to learn of their success, Hugh Black commented: "We all have our speciality products, but this award means so much to us as it is for a product which is the 'bread and butter' of Scottish butchers trade.
"I feel the reason for this success is the amount of hard work we have put into improving our recipe in the last few months. We have worked closely with our seasoning supplier to create a bespoke taste which we believe delivers not only an outstanding flavour, but also a supreme texture."
Beef for Hugh Black & Sons is personally selected by Hugh and his brother Craig. Together they source the finest Scotch Beef cattle though local livestock auction markets and over the 27 years since they were established believe that creating top quality products is the key to success. Such is this success is that they now have nine retail butchers shops in Central Scotland.
John Mair, of the Hospitality Department at City of Glasgow College was one of the final judges and he said: “The winner stood out for its texture and flavour. It was tasty, not too solid and if you bought that you would be back for more.”
Douglas Scott, Chief Executive, Scottish Federation of Meat Traders said: “Scottish craft butchers have a tradition of supplying quality meat products and the presentation of this award serves as a reminder to customers that your local butcher is really the only place to buy your meat. Customers in Cambuslang probably knew all along that Blacks' Sliced Sausage was special but now they have official confirmation of just how special, well done.”
The full list of regional winners:
Scottish Champion & West of Scotland: Hugh Black & Son, Cambuslang
Reserve Scottish Champion & East of Scotland: Stuarts of Buckhaven
North of Scotland: Duncan Fraser & Son, Inverness
South East Scotland: Hugh Black & Son, Bathgate
South West of Scotland: Galloway Quality Meats, Dumfries
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
