Third generation Cypriot Australian Tony Tartaglia, has done it again, by taking out first (Gold) place in the Continental Section A of the Australian Meat Industry Council’s (AMIC) 2014 Sausage King Awards.

“We call the new sausage our pizza in a skin,” explained Tony, whose Greythorn Butcher’s shop, Tony’s Gourmet Delight’s has so far snagged five AMIC Sausage King Awards since first entering the contest in 2011.

The Mediterranean flavoured sausage is a combination of pork, veal and shredded ham off-the-bone, mozzarella cheese and olives, accompanied by a variety Mediterranean spices such as oregano.

“We try to create different flavours each time, not just for the competition but throughout the year to let our customers give us feedback on all the different flavours,” Tony tells Neos Kosmos.

Last year, Tony’s plain beef sausage took out the award. The year before it was the Tuscan sausage – pork and veal combined with flat leaf parsley, soaked green peppercorns, parmesan cheese and a pinch of chilli and the year before that was the Hot Mexican slightly spicy pork sausage with fresh fennel.

“I look at it like a blank canvas,” he explains of creating new sausage flavours,”you add your colours, but in this case, being your freshly picked and grounded ingredients.

“You always start with a premium meat – whether it’s pork, beef or lamb.”

When asked what constitutes a good sausage, Tony explains that if it spurts, splatters and shrinks, then you know the sausage has a lot of fats and emulsifiers in it. With Tony’s sausages they are all natural, in natural casings and no synthetics and are all gluten free.

This year, Tony also snagged third (Bronze) placing in this year’s AMIC Poultry Section with a chicken, mango and coriander sausage; and to further his score, has been awarded second and third in a new Burger Section introduced by AMIC this year, giving him a total of nine industry accolades over the past four years.

Yet with all these awards he says this year’s award, winning Mediterranean sausage, is by far the best.