Supreme bacon brings home supreme prize for Hawke's Bay butcher

Turning an animal that "might not be the best for steaks or roasts" into other "very tasty" cuts, is what drives butcher Jordan Hamilton-Bicknell.

He cultivates the meat into a variety of products such as cheese kranksys and venison-based salamis.

However, it is his bacon and ham that really has the crowd pleased - or at least the 100% New Zealand Bacon and Ham awards judges, who named Hamilton-Bicknell's Wild Game butchery the supreme winner in both categories.  

Hamilton-Bicknell told Country Life he had been in the butchery trade since he was a "wee snipper". At the age of 15, he worked in a butchery before being given a full-time job when he finished school.

"They were a rough bunch of guys and you had to work your arse off," Hamilton-Bicknell recalled.

From there, he made his way up to Hawke's Bay working at Wild Game. Twelve months ago, he and his wife Varnnah took over the ownership of the boutique butchery which has a paddock-to-plate focus using local pork.

And that may just be the secret to their award-winning products. 

"We sliced it up and sent it away for judging and just had to await the 'yay or nay'."

He said it was a "neat feeling" when the penny dropped that the couple had taken the top prize for their sliced pressed ham out of the front shoulder of the pig.

"There were a lot of judges there that were a little bit shocked we entered such an old traditional product. But it is one of the tastiest products you can almost have when it comes to ham," he said.

Hamilton-Bicknell said it was a common product years ago and was made by utilising the gelatine in the section of the cut to keep the ham moist once it was pressed. 

"It's just something you don't see very often anymore. You see a lot more leg or champagne hams, which can be a wee bit drier."

He said part of the secret to their success was also keeping recipes simple.

That approach is seen in their bacon, which keeps the rind.

Hamilton-Bicknell recalled his grandad telling him that water never used to come out of bacon when it was being cooked.

"It wouldn't shrink in the pan," he said.

"We just try and keep it simple, so it's a bit more traditional, using quality products: quality meat, quality ingredients rather than following those commercial lines and doing everything on the cheap and nasty."

Having worked at Wild Game for five years before purchasing the business, Hamilton-Bicknell was able to build rapport with the customers. 

He said he particularly enjoyed being able to produce different cuts of meat for people who had raised animals themselves.

"They've put all the effort in, we do our part and then they get good quality meat that they know where it's come from."

The butchery's customers came from far and wide, he said.

"We have customers that come over from Whanganui. You might have one car come over with about four or five different people's meat from up that road ... they come from all over the place.

"It's quite nice knowing that you do that nice a product for people and they keep coming back."