Linke's Central Meats: Ron samples some smallgoods "to die for" in the Barossa Valley region of South Australia
A couple of weeks ago we took you on a 'cook's tour' of the Barossa as the Valley gears up for it's biennial Vintage Festival. It's hard gig but someone's got to do it. From cheese shops to tucked away cellar doors - the Barossa has it all. Over time the festival has matured. In years past, the Barossa Vintage Queen was the pin-up girl of the valley. Today in these more 'correct' times, the organisers have opted for a Young Ambassador. This festival it's Becc Gross and I teamed up with her for a quick jaunt through some of the secrets of the valley.
The placard on the century old barrels at Liebich Wines at Rowland Flat serve as perfect preparation for what will be certainly be a hit come festival time. The 'old huffin and puffin grape stompin' event will be held all over the valley and harks back to when the Silesian Germans made the Barossa their own. Wine, Cheese and small goods have always been a part of the valley's charm.
To really appreciate the Barossa German gourmet past you need to get a little smokey with a visit to Linke's Central Meats in Nuriootpa. Here, local butcher, Graham Linke still runs his traditional smokehouse.
Graham Linke, Linke's Central Meats: "At the moment we are smoking some shoulder bacon, some lach schinken which is about half done at the moment. Little bacons are hanging in the smokehouse and we also have pork back fat off the bigger pigs which is cured and smoked. That's pork speck."
From hocks to mettwurst, from speck to bacon it's all here. Graham says it's not overly physical work but it is meticulous - a throwback to his German antecedents
Graham Linke, Linke's Central Meats: "So many things have to come out at different times so you've got to know when it's right to take things out because you can spoil it if you overdo them. So you must keep an eye on the meat."
As the redgum sawdust smokes away for hours, Graham constantly checks on his babies. He's been doing this for more than five decades which is longer than his dad, Edgar, who taught him the trade. The years in the smoke house have taken their toll on Graham's sense of smell.
Graham Linke, Linke's Central Meats: "The first comment from customers when they come in the shop is 'hmm that smells like a real butcher shop'. I can't smell it though because I'm here all the time."
Graham doesn't know what he's missing out on because when you enter off Nuri's main street, the smell of smoked and cured smallgoods is wonderfully overpowering.
The names say it all - jaegerbraten, kassler, lach schinken. They really evoke that sense of the old Barossa deutsche. The Linke's have been in the Barossa since 1838. Graham's grandfather, George established the first butcher shop on a farm not far from here in 1928 and they've been going strong ever since.
For Becc and I, it was a privilege to gather round the counter for a few slices of mettwurst, dill cucumber and lach schincken with the bloke who originally wanted to be a carpenter but wasn't game enough to tell his dad. In the old days meats were all cured and smoked on the small Barossa farms. Each had a cellar and racks of smoked meats were meant to see you through the good times and the bad.
Travel past Linke's and you're likely to catch a glimpse of Graham near the smokehouse. Who can tell just how long this tradition will continue. Ironically Graham's son chose not to become a butcher like his father, grandfather and great grandfather. He's now a carpenter. Linke's Butcher shop is located in the main street of Nuriootpa and is open Monday to Saturday.
Linke's Central Meat Store
27 Murray St
Nuriootpa
Ph 8562 1143Published 27th March 2011
