Walter Rose Champions Big Sausage Week 2017

It was pork processing day when Aaron McDonald form Meat Trades Journal visited Walter Rose & Son yesterday. The team of expert butchers were busy getting down to business in advance of a busy bank holiday weekend when pork orders go through the roof. The August Bank Holiday always sees Walter Rose put through its paces as orders peak and customers celebrate the last of the summer!

Big Sausage Week takes place from the 31^st October to the 6^th November 2017 and will champion all things great about sausages. The purpose of Aaron’s visit was to capture Britain’s Best Butcher Shop’s award-winning sausage-making processes and showcase best practice to an audience of meat industry professionals.

Aaron visited to film Team Walter Rose talking about their seventeen varieties of premium sausages and the almost military precision applied to manufacturing processes that ensure optimum flavour, quality and consistency in every batch.

The team of sausage producers is headed-up by ex-chef Jamie Hartop (29) whose passion for what he does is communicated through his work.

Jamie said

“My love of butchery started when I was working as a chef in a number of top-end restaurants. I learned about the importance of top quality meat in creating top quality cuisine. Having also served in the army as well as working in the professional kitchen, discipline and attention to detail come as standard in my work ethic. I am proud to work for Walter Rose as they have an excellent reputation built up over four generations. I am extremely passionate about my role as Head of Production and the long hours and hard work are worth the excellent results achieved by the team and I.”

A typical day in the cutting plant will see eighty or ninety kilos of pork butchered at a time, the team will start at 4am and finish when the job is done. Most of the team have been working for Walter Rose for decades and the new apprentices and young butchers are showing great promise.

Jack Cook of Walter Rose then revealed the secret of sublime Walter Rose sausages to Aaron, he said

“The ideal sausage is made up of 20% fat and 80% lean, this is the right sort of balance to keep sausages nice and moist and makes for the best eating experience. Our pork sausages are made from the finest off-cuts of pork shoulder and leg, all sourced from Pig Producer of the Year, Cameron Naughton at Bishops Cannings, just three miles from Devizes.”

Aaron then interviewed Jack and the rest of the team in the busy Market Street butcher’s shop, spanning three shop fronts, where all seventeen varieties of Walter Rose sausages were on display.