Butcher Shop Cafe, Gulgong

The Boy and I arrived in Gulgong to visit our friend The Cattle Baroness on a lovely sunny afternoon in February.  We headed straight for the Gulgong Butchers in order to stock up on our beloved Vegemite and Cheese Sausages.

We had our esky and ice bricks in the car and were planning to take as many snags back to Sydney as we could manage (and afford).  I was so excited about our impending purchase that I was out of the car before The Boy had even parked properly.  Needless to say that I was beyond devastated when the butcher tells me that they don't have any Cheese and Vegemite snags this weekend.

The Boy could hear me wailing from outside the shop and he enters just as I begin my bargaining phase with the butchers.

"I've driven all the way from Sydney".
"It's my birthday".
"I love them and must have them".
"Pleeeaaaaassseeeeeeeeeeee". 
"If you have some in the freezer I don't mind taking frozen sausages".
"If you make then today I'll come back tomorrow to collect them...honest I will".

Surprisingly none of my pleading results in any Cheese and Vegemite Sausages being produced.  O.M.G.  

We leave the butcher's shell shocked, with our feet dragging behind us and a sad face that not even Droopy Dog could compete with. There's only one thing that might ease the pain a little bit...food.

We head across the road to the Butcher Shop Cafe in seek of solace and it's solace that we find.  The cafe, although not housing any Cheese and Vegemite Sausages, has a blackboard menu that takes up an entire wall.

The cafe is actually not in an old butcher's shop, but takes its name from its sister restaurant located in Mudgee which is.  The cafe is bright, spacious and has a lovely rustic vibe to it - it feels a little bit like an old style milk bar.  There are some eclectic pieces of furniture and an old butchers sign that hangs above the coffee machine that help accentuate that "country feel".

We take a seat at the big wooden communal table and after perusing the menu for all but a second we both decide that we need big meaty burgers to fill the hole that Gulgong Butchers has left in our sausage-less tummies.

I go for the Steak Sandwich with Caramelised Onions ($10.00) and it is nearly as big as the plate with big, thick slices of white bread. The onions are beautifully sweet, and the steak is tender and cooked to perfection.  The salad greens just emphasise the fact that a steak sanger this tasty must be good for me.

The Boy orders the Butcher Burger ($10.00) that comes with cheese and bacon. It is just as huge as my sandwich and looks delicious.  We both fall silent as we munch through our lunch, our thoughts temporarily diverted from our Sausage Sadness.

We also order some drinks. The Boy goes for a Caramel Milkshake ($3.50) and as I drank half of it I can tell you it was pretty amazing.  I love that it came served in the metal glass...just like milkshakes of yesteryear.  I ordered a Ginger Beer ($3.50) which was lovely and refreshing.

After lunch we head back over to the butcher's just to double check that no Cheese and Vegemite Sausages have materialised in our absence. Nope. They do give me their phone number though so I can call ahead next time and order some to avoid disappointment.  Now why didn't I think of that earlier?

The Butcher Shop Cafe is at 113 Mayne St, Gulgong.  They are open daily for breakfast and lunch.

Vegemite and Cheese Sausages, Gulgong Butchery

About a year ago The Boy and I packed up our city clothes and went west to visit our friend, The Cattle Baroness, who has a property just past Gulgong (which is past Mudgee, which is past Lithgow, which is WAY past Parramatta).

As our trip fell just before Christmas one of our farm chores was to go into town and pick up the Christmas ham from Gulgong Butchery. This suited me just fine as I’m totally useless at real farm work (the previous year I helpfully weeded the herb garden only to find out that I’d pulled out all the herbs and basically left the weeds…oopsie). I knew I’d be good at collecting a ham without injuring myself , others or harmless vegetation.

At the butchers shop in town The Boy and I were very excited to discover Vegemite and Cheese Sausages. Irrationally excited now that I think about it.

We knew these babies were either going to the be the most revolting thing we’ve ever imagined (although surely that award would have to go to a Brussel Sprout Sausage), or the best thing since sliced bread with Vegemite and Cheese on it.

The butcher proudly told us they were his own invention and a massive hit in Gulgong. AND they were award winning sausages! Sold to the lady from the city!

For some reason The Baroness wasn’t convinced by our awesome, award winning, snag find even though the butcher promised us they were good! And they were gourmet. The Baroness likes Vegemite and she likes cheese, I just don’t think she was convinced about them being married together in a sausage skin casing. She was even dubious when I promised that EVERYONE in Gulgong like them…EVERYONE.

Friend or foe?

So the snags went into the fridge and somehow we totally forgot about popping them on the BBQ that night. The next day we hightailed it back to the city and have wondered about the Cheese and Vegemite Sausages ever since!

I know that it is a bit tragic that a year later The Boy and I were STILL thinking about those bloody sausages.

As we drove away from Sydney last Friday night we fired a barrage of questions at each other. What would they taste like? Would they be gross? We would love them? Would we be able to taste the Vegemite? Would they be oily due to the cheesey innards? Would the weather be sunny enough for a BBQ? Would they still be in The Baroness’s freezer – surely she has kept them for us in the event that I would return one day to weed the garden again?

Sadly (or unsurprisingly really) the sausages weren’t awaiting our return a year later. A reshuffle of fridges and freezers meant that, on a sunny day in Gulgong, the sausages had met an untimely and un-BBQ’d death.

On Saturday morning I quickly volunteered to do a grocery run into town with the ulterior movie of visiting the butcher again. I have to admit that as we drove into Gulgong I was nervous that the Vegemite and Cheese Sausages may have gone the way of the dinosaur. I was desperate to know what they tasted like.

I am pleased to report sausages were happily waiting for us and, after a brief discussion with The Boy about the amount of cheese and vegemiteyness required, we purchased four juicy looking sausages. We threw them on the BBQ pretty much as soon as we got back the farm along with a few 'regular snags'. I was determined not to miss out again!

Straight to the BBQ

As the snags cooked on the BBQ we enjoyed the lovely view and thought how wonderfully different this experience was from our BBQ on the balcony at home.  Over on the BBQ molten cheese oozed out of the sausage skin and became crispy as it hit the BBQs hot plate. Drool.

Oozing cheesy goodness

 Even the chickens were intrigued by the lovely smell and the came to check things out.

Chicken + BBQ = BBQ Chicken! Run away chicken!!

 Finally the long awaiting moment of tasting had arrived.

The Baroness and I agreed to have one snag each and The Boy could have two as he’d be sent off to do proper farm work later on and could thus work off the cheesy calories. I supposed a fairer distribution would’ve been one for each of us and one for the dog! Sorry doggy.

I was expecting cheese to ooze out of the sausage when I bit into it, but it seems that it had either melted into the sausage during the cooking process, or all over the BBQ hot plate.

These sausages were really really tasty and I’m so sad that I only had one. The taste of Vegemite was only apparent every now and then, and not as obvious or as strong as I had thought it would be. The snags did have a saltiness to them that I’ve not noticed in other sausages, as well as tasting rich and meaty.

We had also cooked a ‘regular beef snag’ each so we could do a snag comparison. After eating the yummy, salty, crispy Vegemite and Cheese Sausage we all agreed that regular sausage just didn’t cut it.

The Baroness’ verdict = yum yum yum!

I know Gulgong Butchery do home delivery, but I wonder if they'd come all the way to Sydney for two Vegemite and Cheese Sausage converts.