THERE was a large increase of salami entries at the recent second annual Great Murray River Salami Festival.
The $2000 prize went to Travis Sheridan, of Moonee Ponds, who has had success with salami competitions in Melbourne.
This year, James Mele, from The Meat Room, returned to judge the competition, accompanied by My Kitchen Rules contestants Mick and Jodie-Anne Barlow.
Attendee numbers were also up from last year, from about 1500 people to 2000 this year, based on feedback from the vendors and volunteers on the gate.
Salami festival organiser and Euston Club Resort manager Guy Fielding said Mr Sheridan’s winning entry was one of three entered by the Melbourne salami maker.
“The other two didn’t score too well,” Mr Fielding said.
The winning sausage was a northern style salami called finocchiona.
“Course ground meat and fat provides a nice rustic look with the addition of fennel pollen, and gives a beautiful floral note which complements the fennel seeds,” the entry description said.
“A small amount of garlic, pepper and a touch of chilli fits nicely in the background flavours.
“We used white wine in this to maintain a nice colour.”
Mr Sheridan is part of a group called the Brotherhood Salami Club.
There was 64 entries entered on the day.
“We had 39 last year, so we clipped our last year’s number by quite an amount so we were pretty happy,” Mr Fielding said.
The organiser said attendees praised the layout of this year’s festival which made it easier to purchase food and drinks.
“They were rapt again with how it was planned out, the position, the activities, the food vendors and market stalls and the entertainment,” he said.
“People were favourable to how the layout was last year, but I think we just positioned things a little bit better and made it easier for attendees to flow through the event.”
Held alongside the Murray River in Euston, the children’s tent was moved near the entry of the festival, with the food and beverage and markets stalls placed on the grass.
“We had tables and chairs on the riverfront (and market stall section) whereas last year it was on the grass and the food vendors were on the asphalt,” Mr Fielding said.
“The stage area was also on the riverside. It was all out of whack.”
Although it was a sunny day, Mr Fielding said extra shade was provided by umbrellas.
“We didn’t have enough last year,” he said.
“It was a beautiful sunny day with little wind. It was quite warm.
“We’ve had two successful events where the weather’s been kind to us.”
