The Borella butchers – Reese Jones, Ben Vartiainen, Lachie Gerahty, Jared Gerahty and Callum Quinn. The business has recently added a swag of awards to its collection for its snags and smallgoods. Photo: Vanessa Hayden.
What do jalapeno pepper, lamb massaman curry and duck, triple sec (liqueur) and dark chocolate all have in common?
They are ingredients in Albury’s Borella Butchery’s range of sausages and the team just “wiped the board” in their categories in the regional round of the national Sausage King competition in Sydney.
“I’m happy to say it was the best year we ever did. No-one else got a placement,” said director Jared Gerahty.
They’ll now be in the mix for a state award next month when the Australian Meat Industry Council hosts the NSW championships on 12 October.
The East Albury butchery is no stranger to winning awards or making up quirky sausage mixes for that matter.
The shelves in their store are littered with plaques, trophies, and gold cups highlighting some serious national achievements.
They have been winning gongs for their sausages and burgers since 2019 and also recently brought home six gold medals from the Australian Charcuterie Excellence Awards for their small goods including free range bacon, beef jerky, kranski, salami and traditional strasburg.
“Without sounding like a bit of a tool, we are really good at making sausages,” said Jared, 31, who manages a team of nine, including younger brother and apprentice Lachie Gerahty.
“Sausages are just something you can be a bit more creative with and whilst we don’t do as many variations as we used to, these days we have at least eight different varieties on offer at any one time.”
Jared Gerahty and Reese Jones from Borella Butchery picked up 21 awards at the recent Charcuterie Awards, including six golds. Photo: Supplied.
Creative could be an understatement when you consider some of the concoctions Jared, his right-hand man, Reese Jones, and the team have dreamed up in the past.
“I think we’ve done just about everything you can think of – liquorice allsorts, baileys and caramel, rum, cherry ripe and just about every curry variation we could find. At one time I spent about two months going up and down the chocolate aisle picking a chocolate and thinking what can I do with that?”
He admitted while some of the mixes were “quite weird”, he’d put them out and “hope for the best”.
“If someone came back in and told me they were s***, I’d say, ‘Yes they were, and we won’t be doing them again!'” he laughed.
These days you’ll find the full range of meat products in store and tried and tested sausage favorites such as Italian; German bratwurst; lamb, honey and rosemary; laksa; pumpkin and fetta; and the chicken parmy, a 2023 national winner.
“We don’t do the wacky stuff anymore, but it was fun while it lasted. It was a thing we really enjoyed doing at the time and it got our name out there; we were the ‘crazy guys doing sausages, but people liked it because it was genuine.”
Jared is turning his eye toward producing the perfect beef jerky and continues to promote that he offers the best steak in town.
He said he had a competitive nature and enjoyed the challenge of winning awards.
“I go in to win but I don’t give myself a big pat on the back. I like winning, to be able to tick that off and then go for the next one.
“We’ve got a really great team here, but we don’t celebrate the awards too much, we just like to get on with things, but the recognition has helped cement us as being a boutique butcher in the area.”
You can follow Borella Butchery on Facebook.
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