photos/Kiki Garfield
Pork Olympics
Welcome back, BBQ fans, to another edition of The Bollard’s Smokin’ Sausage Showdown, the annual competition that pits links by local butchers against one another on the grueling gridiron of my backyard Weber (half-buried underground since the legs rusted off). In our ongoing effort to keep the contest fresh, we made this year Maine’s first Pork Olympics, selecting sausage styles from different nations to go head to head (or butt to butt, as it were) for the gold, silver and bronze.
A total of 12 competitors smoked off in three categories: Traditional Recipe, Non-Traditional Recipe, and a third category for sausages associated with regions, rather than specific countries. Let’s start the action there!
The three regional entrants were a Caribbean banger made by Pat’s Meat Market in Portland’s Deering Center neighborhood, an Asian dumpling variety stuffed by the butchers at Kennebec Meat Co. in Bath, and a coconut curry sausage made by Olde Haven Farm in Chelsea, whose friendly and knowledgeable purveyor sets up at one end of the farmers’ market in Deering Oaks on Saturdays.
The curry flavor in Olde Haven’s link was more Thai than Indian, and mildly spiced. Due to its relative lack of fat, our man at the market recommended we smoke it about 10 degrees below usual (we averaged around 250 during the three-and-a-half-hour cook), but in this crowded field, the best we could do was place it near the edge of the grill farthest from the smoldering oak. Overall, it was a very good sausage, and duly earned the bronze.
Pat’s banger was a real banger flavor-wise, too. The Caribbean spices added sweetness and heat — Scotch bonnet pepper heat that lingered in the most enjoyable way. More loosely packed than most of the links from other shops, its juiciness and snap were also signs of the expert pork craftsmanship that’s earned Pat’s many Showdown wins over the years. This year, this one took a silver.
Congratulations, Kennebec Meat Co.! Your Asian dumpling sausage was superb! Strong soy and fish or oyster sauce flavor, plus all the yummy bits one finds in a great dumpling, combined to earn this one the gold.
In the Non-Traditional Recipe game, we also had three competitors. The Vietnamese sausage from Pat’s, made with spices from local purveyor Skordo, was tasty and distinctly Asian, but not strongly spiced enough to stand out in this year’s field. Solid bronze.
The hot-shot newcomer everyone was salivating over was the Mexican street corn sausage made by Barber Bros. Meat & Provisions in South Portland’s Legion Square. Their Chinese dumpling sausage earned top honors at last year’s Showdown, as did their broccoli rabe and their chorizo. This rookie from the alleys of Mexico City didn’t disappoint. Packed with kernels, melty Cotija cheese and south-of-the-border spices, it would’ve won the gold had we topped it with a crema, but strict Pork Olympic rules prohibit that kind of doping.
Plus, Olde Haven’s cheddar brat rules. I’m told they smoke the cheddar — an English cheese no old-school German brat-maker would’ve added — with applewood, so the liquified stuff inside ours was double-smoked, which is almost cheating. Higher fat content and impeccable stuffing technique kept this link juicy as a mother. Gold medal for mom!
The Traditional Recipe category had six competitors — a daunting task for our tasters, but two of the four judges later tested positive for appetite-enhancing drugs (courtesy of this year’s weed sponsor, Evergreen Cannabis Co., on Washington Ave. in Portland), so we soldiered on. And, of course, we’re still using the indestructible grill tongs Forged by Thor (a.k.a. Tony) up in New Gloucester.
Among the best of the links that didn’t medal in this category was the Toulouse sausage made by Barber Bros. This French style made with red wine paired beautifully with the oak smoke and retained an exquisite juiciness.
The Swedish potato link made by The Sausage Kitchen in Lisbon Falls remains true to master butcher Maurice Bonneau’s recipe. Before selling the business to a new family five years ago, Maurice crafted dozens of sausage varieties based on recipes from around the world, and we’ve yet to bite into one we didn’t like. This one has a dense, bologna-like texture and a mild yet fine flavor that, like Pat’s’ Vietnamese link, simply got outshined … by another Pat’s sausage!
The bronze in this game goes to the Lithuanian kielbasa from Pat’s. Garlic, parsley, mustard seed, black pepper and salt combine in perfect ratio, and the spot-on fat percentage keeps it juicy even after three-plus hours in the smoke bath. A true classic.
The silver goes to the Hungarian sujuk sausage made by the young Kennebec Meat Co. crew. We tasted hits of paprika and celery with mild heat and marveled at the subtleties of this style, rarely made in Maine, that’s also popular in Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East. Another exemplary entrant from new-generation butchers…
… who still can’t top the Jedi of Maine sausage-makers, Chet Knights of Fresh Approach Market, in Portland’s West End. In the wake of Bonneau’s retirement and that of Dickie “Grampy” Colucci, the Italian sausage godfather of Munjoy Hill, Knights remains the old-school butcher to beat, and that just ain’t happenin’.
Fresh Approach’s chorizo didn’t make the medal stand this year, but their sweet Italian gets the gold in the Traditional category. Fennel and oregano lead the charge, followed by just the right amount of salt — a dangerous ingredient that’s sunk many an over-seasoned sausage in past Showdowns. Like Grampy, Chet’s also got his signature chunky grind, so the fat content is dialed in, too.
By the way, the bureaucrats at the Department of Agriculture still haven’t reinstated Fresh Approach’s ability to accept SNAP payments (they made them apply for a new license after revoking the one they had for decades for mistakenly selling a pittance worth of paper products to an undercover agent last winter), so support this neighborhood market this summer by grilling up their gold-medal links and other top-shelf cuts! All of this year’s competitors came from mom-and-pop shops or small farms, so until next time, remember, when it comes to sausages (and weed), smoke local.
