The best bacon in Australia in 2015 is from Pialligo Estate in Canberra
For the second year in a row, Australia's best bacon comes from Canberra – from the semi-rural Pialligo Estate Smokehouse.
And Canberra also took out another national award with Southlands Quality Meats in Mawson winning the best full rasher bacon.
Pialligo Estate has won Australia's best bacon award. General Manager Charlie Costelloe.
(Photo: Jamila Toderas)
The awards are organised by Australian Pork to mark Bacon Week which runs until June 27.
Pialligo's dry cured and smoked shortcut rashers were described by judges as "beautifully marbled with a nice smoky aroma and nice balanced taste".
Co-owner John Russell said the award was an honour – "two years in a row, I believe the first time it's been achieved."
He said the provenance of the meat, using only Australian pork, and the fact that everything was done by hand, was what set Pialligo apart from other bacon.
"It's the care and individual detail we give to each serving that we produce," he said.
Pialligo's general manager Charlie Costelloe said demand for the bacon had jumped since the estate won the best bacon title last year.
It's now available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth as well as around Canberra.
"It became a thing around Christmas, people giving other people 'Christmas bacon', and a lot of the local cafes have been supporting us so we've been getting traction two ways, in the retail sense and the cafes," he said. "A lot of new cafes are setting up and want something a little different, they want to focus on quality and they come to us."
At Southlands Quality Meats in Mawson, butcher Alan Matthews and his team were celebrating the full rasher bacon national title.
"The secret really is the right product, the female pork, not to over cook it but have it nice and smoky. We get all our woodchips from Germany and we use the one type and the one type only," he said.
"You get really nice, tender, flavoursome bacon."
Judges tasted 135 bacon entries over two days.
Pialligo won the title of best artisan bacon. Bertocchi Smallgoods' long rindless hickory smoked bacon took out the award for best nationally available bacon, also the second time the company had won in two years.
The winners
Best full rasher bacon: Southlands Quality Meat, Mawson, Canberra
Pialligo's dry cured and smoked shortcut rashers were described by judges as "beautifully marbled with a nice smoky aroma and nice balanced taste".
Co-owner John Russell said the award was an honour – "two years in a row, I believe the first time it's been achieved."
He said the provenance of the meat, using only Australian pork, and the fact that everything was done by hand, was what set Pialligo apart from other bacon.
"It's the care and individual detail we give to each serving that we produce," he said.
Pialligo's general manager Charlie Costelloe said demand for the bacon had jumped since the estate won the best bacon title last year.
It's now available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth as well as around Canberra.
"It became a thing around Christmas, people giving other people 'Christmas bacon', and a lot of the local cafes have been supporting us so we've been getting traction two ways, in the retail sense and the cafes," he said. "A lot of new cafes are setting up and want something a little different, they want to focus on quality and they come to us."
At Southlands Quality Meats in Mawson, butcher Alan Matthews and his team were celebrating the full rasher bacon national title.
"The secret really is the right product, the female pork, not to over cook it but have it nice and smoky. We get all our woodchips from Germany and we use the one type and the one type only," he said.
"You get really nice, tender, flavoursome bacon."
Judges tasted 135 bacon entries over two days.
Pialligo won the title of best artisan bacon. Bertocchi Smallgoods' long rindless hickory smoked bacon took out the award for best nationally available bacon, also the second time the company had won in two years.
The winners
Best full rasher bacon: Southlands Quality Meat, Mawson, Canberra
Runners up: Country Meats, Lismore, NSW; Circle T Meats, Raceview, Queensland
Best shortcut bacon: Pialligo Estate, Canberra
Runners up: Campbell's Superior Meats, West Pymble, NSW; Meat on Melville, Numurkah, Victoria
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald - Good Food, Natasha Rudra, June 21st 2015
