Sausage maker and charcutier Miles Drewery runs The Sausage Press from his property near Nelson Photo: Miles Drewery
Sick of feeding his kids salami that was full of additives, former chef Miles Drewery started making his own naturally preserved meats.
"Just by messing around with salt and smoke, I've figured out how to do it without nitrates", he tells Susie Ferguson.
Drewery and his wife Steph – also a trained chef – run the smallgoods business Sausage Press Deli Company from their home in Nelson.
Drewery's love of charcuterie has been lifelong – his parents produced salami in the 1980s and as a chef, he's cured meat in restaurants around the world.
Back in New Zealand, he and Steph first tried commercial sausage-making on an old meat press inherited from his father.
"It's got a barrel that you fill with your premixed mince… and then put a skin on the end of it, wind the handle in this case and it pressurises it and forces it into the skin so you get a nice tight sausage."
The press, which was made in 1818 and "weighs as much as a small car", has now become the company mascot.
"Because it's such an ornate machine it's almost a work of art. So we covered it in an anti-rust black paint and we've got it sitting on a white barrel."
To naturally preserve free-range pork and chicken, grass-fed beef and wild salmon – and kill all of the bacteria – Miles uses mānuka smoke.
"When I smoke [the meat], I pasteurise it by getting it above 65 degrees and holding it for a period of time there.
"Then we dry them down so the water activity inside them is low enough that the bacteria cant reform. Just by messing around with salt and smoke, I've figured out how to do it without nitrates."
To further avoid chemicals, Miles adds the natural preservatives fennel and coriander seed to all of his products, which include spicy chorizo and smoked chicken breasts.
As with any artisan food product, he is confident that the joy he takes in the creation process comes through when people taste his wares at the Nelson and Motueka farmers' markets.
"If you're just lacking and humdrum then you can tell, the taste is boring. Whereas I love what I do. I really enjoy it. That's why I'm always playing around with new flavours."
Drewery says he and Steph's kids are about to fly the nest and he's very happy with the rural sausage-making lifestyle.
"I'll keep doing this for a while. I love it. I like the reaction of people enjoying what I'm producing.'
