THE ORGANISERS of Wearside’s first city centre food and drink festival have come up with a sizzling idea – a Sausage for Sunderland competition.
As part of Sunderland’s Food and Drink Festival – which runs from June 21 – 23 – organisers Sunderland BID and Sunderland City Council have teamed up with award-winning butchers Ibbitson’s to find a new flavour of banger.
And now fans of the favourite food are being asked to submit their own suggestions for the perfect sausage, with the winning recipe becoming an Ibbitson’s guest sausage for a month.
Ibbitson’s has had a presence in the city for nearly a century, with its sausages winning a number of Great Taste awards for mouth-watering combinations such as Moroccan lamb and apricots.
Joanne Ibbitson, the third generation of the family to work in the business, believes this is a great opportunity for people to be really inventive.
“There are lots of exciting combinations of flavours that go together so we’re looking forward to seeing what people come up with,” she said.
Entrants are asked to submit their ideas by 24 May and then six will be shortlisted and turned into sausages by Shaun Muldown, Ibbitson’s master butcher and sausage maker.
Those six sausages will be available to try on the final day of the festival and the most popular will be announced as the winner – and will then go into production and be sold from the Ibbitson’s stall at Jacky Whites Market.
Sharon Appleby, Head of Business Operations at Sunderland BID, is hoping that lots of people take part.
“This is a great opportunity to be really imaginative and come up with some great ideas for a sausage filling and see it go into production,” she said.
“It’s a really exciting addition to what is already an amazing weekend of activities and events.”
A Sausage for Sunderland is one of a whole host of exciting events taking place throughout the festival, including demonstrations by celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli, former Masterchef finalist and tv favourite Dean Edwards and Cbeebies presenter, Katy Ashworth.
Other events over the weekend include an international food market, a gin school, cocktail masterclasses and a range of demonstrations by local chefs.
Anyone wanting to enter the Sausage for Sunderland competition should send their recipe suggestion toinfo@sunderlandbid.co.uk and include their contact details.
The full programme for the festival is available at https://www.seeitdoitsunderland.co.uk/sundfoodfest