Staff of DJ’s Family Butchery, Yass, celebrate winning the title of best beef sausages in regional NSW and the ACT. Photo: Supplied.
Yass Valley folk have known it for years – but it’s now official: when it comes to the best traditional snags in town, you don’t go past DJ’s Family Butchery in the main street of town.
The butchery, which has been run by Jarrod Clifford for the past two years, has won the 2023 Australian Meat Industry Council award for the best beef sausages – in the ACT and regional NSW.
Although the awards were announced last month, the trophy arrived at the Yass butchery on Monday (20 November), to the delight of Jarrod, his apprentice Kaitlin Luff who made the prize-winning sausages, the three other butchers on staff and his two “clean-up girls”.
“We were pretty excited about it,” Jarrod said. “The sausages that won are 100 per cent beef – but they also have a secret mixture in them – but I can’t tell you what that is because it’s a secret,” he laughed.
“But we’re pretty excited about winning – apparently there were about 600 entries all up.”
The business also took out third place for its country-style pork snags.
Jarrod said the award was not only great for his business, but also for the Yass Valley community. He has already commissioned the local signwriter to make a sign for the front door of the shop in the main street.
“It’s the first time we’ve won something like this so it is very exciting,” he said.
“Especially for our apprentice Kaitlin who actually made the sausages that won.”
Apprentice butcher Kaitlin Luff with owner of the DJ’s Family Butchery in Yass Jarrod Clifford with the trophy they won for best beef sausages in regional NSW and the ACT. Photo: Supplied.
Jarrod said the shop makes between 100 kg and 200 kg of sausages a day – even more in summer when barbecues are on the menu. They try to make a different flavour every week, to make things interesting.
“We’ve made a few interesting ones over the years,” he said. “One of the most popular was a chili chocolate sausage we made with Cadburys chocolate, which sold very well. The chocolate and the red meat seemed to complement each other very well.”
He’s also made cheese and Vegemite sausages, “which the young kids loved”.
The 2023 event, Sausage King and Best Butchers’ Burger competition, was organised by the Australian Meat Industry Council which boasts 1500 members Australia-wide. This annual competition is designed to showcase the nation’s best meat businesses and their creations.
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