Sign In / Register
Warkworth Butchery has once again carved it up taking home a gold for its dry cured streaky bacon and a bronze for its farm gate heritage ham at the 100% NZ Bacon and Ham Awards 2025.
With 284 entries from all over the country, the competition was as tough as ever – but that didn’t stop the Warkworth shop from standing out and showing they’re still one of the best in the business.
“This year we placed in two categories we hadn’t before, so we’re absolutely stoked with that,” Warkworth Butchery owner Rob Lees says.
“Massive credit to the boys, who are always striving to do better.
“There was a mystery shop element to the comp as well. You can’t just come up with something and enter it. You’ve got to have the product in store. So what we submitted is what our customers get day in, day out,” he says.
Lees says their continued success comes down to keeping things simple.
“We use traditional methods for our bacon, focusing on time in the cure and good smoke.”
With seven bacon varieties now on offer, the butchery is constantly exploring new ways to excite taste buds.
While their rum and manuka honey bacon didn’t place in the new flavour category at the awards this year, it’s already proven to be very popular with customers.
Their award-winning heritage ham is also made by sticking to the basics: free-range pork, slow curing, smoking and small batch production.
It’s available all year-round, with a surge in demand during the festive season.
However, the butchery isn’t just winning awards.
Lees and his team have also been sharing their expertise and knowledge with their butchery masterclasses proving to be just as popular as their product range.
Their ‘Sausage’ and ‘Pig in a Day’ masterclasses have attracted a wide range of meat enthusiasts from all walks of life and now they’re about to run their latest offering – A new ‘Basic Butchery’ masterclass.
“We show you how to break down a whole sheep step by step. Then you’ll draw from a hat to see which cut you get. Either leg, loin or shoulder – and you get to keep what you process,” Lees said
“You’ll also get to make sausages, and can keep that too. You might walk away with six packs of six sausages and can slowly roll them out to your friends and family, and just spread the word.”
Next up, Warkworth Butchery is teaming up with the Sawmill for ‘The Last Supper’ on August 21 at 5.30pm, which will feature a live carving demonstration and cut-cooking techniques.
For more info about the Basic Butchery master class visit: https://shorturl.at/ncVTE
Or for The Last Supper go to https://shorturl.at/gmIgD
