Samraksmey So, owner of Rosedale Bakery & Café, Flat 9, 215 Rosedale Rd, Albany in Auckland can now say he makes the best traditional sausage rolls in New Zealand.
For the judges at the Bakels Legendary Sausage Roll Competition, judged in Christchurch on October 26, finding a winner proved to be a huge task.
In the end, with hundreds of sausage rolls behind them, it came down to how the top two were seasoned.
NZ Bakels managing director, Brent Kersel says: “It was the filling of the Gold sausage roll that made it on the day. Second place was a little bit over seasoned. With the Gold they got the seasoning right, the pastry was cooked well, good colour and all five judges chose that as the Legendary Sausage Roll at the end of the day when it was a split decision on the top two finalists.
“The winning sausage roll was quite a different flavour to the second place; it had more of a pork flavour. I’m not sure what the actual meat combination of the filling was, but there was quite a noticeable difference between first and second.”
Mr Kersel says the response to this competition has shown that bakers are keen to see how their products measure up against other bakeries, and hopefully make a name for themselves by winning.
“A competition like this gives an enormous boost to the winning bakery. Kiwis love sausage rolls, and I know they’ll be lining up to try the Legendary Sausage Roll at Rosedale Bakery & Café as soon as the word gets out.”
Mr Kersel says: “The top 30 sausage rolls in this competition were outstanding. It was hard to pick between the top 30. I think this competition is going to grow and I think there’s going to be a lot more bakeries that are going to go out and try to win a sausage roll competition. There’s still some improvement to be done on the pastry and the fillings. Just have a think about not over seasoning, make sure that you are using puff pastry; get a good glaze on your sausage rolls.
“It’s going to get tough. It’s a hard competition to judge. Maybe we’ll bring in a gourmet section and make it a bit of fun. We’ll see what happens, and we will probably go biennially with the sausage roll competition. But it’s a great second up! We only launched this competition in 2020 and here we are in 2023, 408 entries! It’s been a great competition and I think the best sausage roll won on the day.
“Congratulations to our Bakels Legendary Sausage Roll winner Samraksmey So of Rosedale Bakery and Café, Rosedale, Auckland.”
Top ten in the Bakels Legendary Sausage Roll Competition 2023
Gold: Rosedale Bakery & Café, Flat 9, 215 Rosedale Rd, Albany, AUCKLAND,
Silver: Sopheap Long Euro Patisserie, 1028 Beach Road, Torbay, AUCKLAND,
Bronze: Lee Ing Fast & Fresh Bakery, 8 Horomatangi Street, TAUPO
H/C Cameron McKelvey, 16th Ave Café, 762 Cameron Road, Tauranga South, TAURANGA
5th Peggy Zhang, Kitchen Republic Cafa, 32 Bureta Road, Otamoetai, TAURANGA
6th Lam Ho, Paetiki Bakery, 199 Rifle Range Road, TAUPO
7th Dara Iv, Sockburn Bakery, 146 Main South Road, Sockburn, CHRISTCHURCH
8th Rachel Jerard, Indulge Catering, 16 Birmingham Drive, Middleton, CHRISTCHURCH
9th Greaham Clark, Peter Timbs Meats, 72 Edgeware Road, St Albans, CHRISTCHURCH
10th Vanndy Vit, Old Taupo Rd Bakehouse Café, 45 Old Taupo Road, Mangakakahi, ROTORUA
