LEEDS BUTCHERS SUPREME AT GREAT YORKS COMPETITION
Leeds butchers reigned supreme at the 2011 Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage & Products Competition held on Sunday 20 November.  Steve Martin, of Bentleys Butchers, Robin Lane, Pudsey, retained the pork pie supreme championship, while Paul Flintoft Butchers, of High Street, Kippax, was supreme sausage champion.

Bentleys, which also clinched supreme sausage championship honours in 2010, retained the pork pie title at this year's renewal with its first prize traditional pork pie, receiving the Ted Jones Supreme Pork Pie Trophy, presented by the competition stalwart, a retired butcher from Wadsley, Sheffield, the Interbake Trophy and product donation by William Jones Packaging.

Steve Martin, who has been running the business for 20 years, said:  “The pie is made using a secret recipe, which has been passed down over the years and tweaked by myself.”  Bentleys also finished third in the thin pork sausage class.

Paul Flintoft, who established his shop in 2002, saw his first prize thick pork sausages go on to be crowned supreme champion for the first time, receiving the Towers Thompson Trophy, Ripon Select Foods Shield and product donation from WR Wright & Sons.

Paul also won the thick pork sausage trophy in 2006 and 2008, becoming thin pork sausage and overall reserve supreme sausage champion in 2009.  His latest title-winning honour means he qualifies for the national “Champion of Champions” sausage-making competition in London next year.

Both the reserve supreme pork pie and sausage titles fell to a first-time competition entrant, Bolster Moor Farm Shop at Golcar in Huddersfield, launched in 2009 and owned by second cousins Simon Haigh and Andrew Whitwam.

The business clinched these honours with its first prize large pork (stand) pies and thin pork sausages, also winning first and second prizes in the speciality sausage class.  Bolster Moor received the Willis Hall Cup for Pork Pie Excellence, the Devro Cup, Norman Binks Cup, Oris Shield and Gordon Rhodes Shield.

Bolster Moor Farm Shop butcher and owner's son Luke Haigh commented:  “We're delighted to have brought home so many trophies for our sausages and large pork pies.  A lot goes into perfecting our products to ensure they're champion quality.  On a personal note, as the up & coming next generation of our farm shop business, it's great to be recognised in this way.”

Netherton Butchers at Hinchliffe Farm Shop, Huddersfield, won the black pudding championship and WR Wright & Sons Trophy, also finishing runner-up in both the large pork pie and thick pork sausage classes.

Gledhills Butchers, of Stanley, Wakefield, won the beef burger championship and WR Wright & Sons Shield, also becoming runner-up in the black pudding class.

A “New Kid on the Block” Trophy, awarded to first-time competition entrants by Cleveland-based Jon Nesbitt Engineering, of Liverton, fell to Rob Inman, of D J Fenton Butchers, Tickhill, Doncaster, who picked up third prizes in both the thick pork sausage and speciality sausage classes.

Wilsons Butchers, of Crossgates, Leeds, was runner-up in the small pork pie class, with the third prize awarded to new entrant Cannon Hall Farm Shop, of Cawthorne, Barnsley, who also finished third in both the small pork pie and speciality cold eating pie classes.

Nigel Hofmann, of H Hofmann & Sons Butchers, Wakefield, 2010 reserve supreme sausage champion and the reigning national ‘Champion of Champions’ sausage maker, had a break from the sausage classes this year, but finished third in the large pork pie class.

Ellisons Butchers, of Cullingworth, was runner-up in the thin pork sausage class, and Weegmanns Butchers, of Otley, runner-up in the speciality cold eating pie class, with two other Otley butchers J B Wilkinson & Son and Geo Middlemiss & Son, finishing third in the beef burger and black pudding classes respectively.

H Weatherhead & Sons Butchers, of Pateley Bridge, was runner-up in the beefburger class.

Trophies were presented by Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Councils’ president, Ilkley butcher David Lishman.

The 23rd annual competition, the UK’s biggest and best-known regional meat trades contest organised by the Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Councils and held at Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford, attracted 300 entries from butchers across the county.

Also highly commended as finalists at the 2011 competition were:
Small pork pie – Bentleys of Pudsey, Voakes Pies, Whixley, Kendalls Farm Shop, Pateley Bridge, Woods of Carcroft, Furniss, Ben Rhydding, and Keith Dyson, Almondbury
Large pork pie – Farmhouse Fare, Skipton, B & M Collins & Sons, Cleckheaton, Cannon Hill Farm Shop, Cawthorne, Gledhills, Stanley, H Weatherhead & Sons, Pateley Bridge, and H Hofmann & Sons, Wakefield
Speciality cold eating pie – Woods of Carcroft, Gledhills, Stanley, Eatons, Tickhill, H Weatherhead & Sons, Pateley Bridge and Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe, York

Thin pork sausage – Paul Flintoft, Kippax, Mark Spauls & Sons, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Parkin, Epworth, Villa Farm Shop, Huddersfield, Metcalfes Beef & Pork, Cleckheaton, and Ellisons, Cullingworth
Thick pork sausage – Bentleys, Pudsey, Ellisons, Cullingworth, Bolster Moor Farm Shop, Golcar, Eatons, Tickhill, Wilsons, Crossgates, Shaun Fairweather, Mirfield, and Furniss, Ben Rhydding
Speciality sausage – Keelham Hall Farm Shop, Thornton, Paul Flintoft, Kippax, H Weatherhead & Sons, Pateley Bridge, Samuel Valentine Urban Food Hall, Allerton, Netherton Butchers at Hinchliffe Farm Shop, Huddersfield, and Parkin, Epworth
Beefburger – Sutcliffes, Skipton, Headingley Farm Butchers and Weegmanns, Otley