Life

Unusual Combinations a Winner for Dayboro’s ‘Famous Sausage Man'

Dayboro's Famous Sausage Man loves to experiment with his sausage flavours, even adding chocolate to the mix, but he's willing to admit that his unusual combinations have hit a few snags along the way.

Chocolate may not be a traditional sausage ingredient but butcher Scott Heathwood likes to think outside the square when making his handmade sausages.

“I make a new flavour of sausage every week. I am a bit of a sweet freak so I really like to experiment and put sweet flavours into the sausages,’’ he says.

“I made one with Clinkers (chocolate lollies) over Easter as a test and everyone loved them. It’s not like eating chocolate in a sausage. It’s just that bit of flavour going through the meat.

“Next I want to try making sausages with honeycomb or a Crunchie bar.

“You can put absolutely anything in a sausage and experiment. I like to develop a new sausage in my spare time or something will just come to me. I make one with pork, apple, sultanas and caramel. People go nuts for it.’’

His more unusual sausages include red wine and garlic; pork and wild plum; Worcestershire and pepper venison; kangaroo; chicken and mango; lamb, pumpkin, feta and shallot; chicken, honey and macadamia.

Scott was born and raised in Dayboro, and has a long family connection to the town.

Twenty years ago as a young man not long out of his apprenticeship, Scott ambitiously took over the Dayboro Butchery which has stood in the town’s main street since 1919. He dubbed himself The Sausage Man and later upgraded the title to The Famous Sausage Man.

“I finished my apprenticeship and started the shop. Of course I’ve made a few mistakes along the way,’’ he says.

He once created a sausage with pineapple as a nod to the original pineapple growers of the area but it wasn’t the success he hoped. “I did try pineapple once in a sausage but it didn’t work out. It turned the meat grey.’’

Try Scott’s sausages at his Dayboro butcher’s shop, which is open seven days, or the Carseldine Markets on a Saturday.