It’s Jamie Oliver’s fault. I lift my nose in the air when it comes to sausages. I don’t do ‘bits’, and unless I know who made those sausages and what’s in them, I just won’t eat them.
Enter Grobnik. My sausage heaven!
We’ve bought Josip Marsanic’s sausages at the farmers’ markets long before we visited his shop. We love that they’re GF and preservative free, really tasty and as ‘unfatty’ as a sausage can be, plus we know what’s in them!
We got the goss’ about Josip’s talents from his son Marko, who started the business with his dad.
“We use all of Dad’s recipes. He was a master butcher in Croatia, and worked on ships and boats, making traditional Bratwurst.”
In fact, the business is named after Josip’s 1200-year-old hometown Grobnik in Croatia, about 5km from Rijeka, Croatia’s main port.
“In 1985 we came to Australia and then to the coast in the mid ’90s. Dad’s been a butcher now for over 45 years.
In the shop, we use authentic European wood chips to hot smoke our goods on site. We’ve got a huge range of products, and we make all of them by hand: dry salted hams, cheese kransky, chorizo, pork hocks, braun, beef ribs, as well an extensive range of sausages.
All of our sausages use proper cuts of meat only – sweet Bangalow pork shoulder, chicken Maryland, tenderloin and breast – no filler and no water, no preservatives or additives, and naturally gluten-free. They’re cased in a natural hog casing. Our pork sausages have less than 5% fat.
Some of the most popular sausages are Lamb and mint, Chicken with shitake mushroom and baby spinach, Pork with whole fennel seeds and Chicken parmigiana. We spend four hours a week just mixing our own spices!
You want to know how to cook them? Cook, turn and brown. No poking or prodding! That would let all the natural juices out.”
Marko tells me about Cevapi, a traditional Balkan food, which Grobnik make fresh daily. It’s a skinless sausage which is served on grilled Turkish bread. Pour chicken stock over and served with squares of bread and ajvar (a pepper relish). The shop also sells burek, a favourite of their European customers.
Mmm… I think I could probably master the sausages, but I’ll leave someone else to do the Cevapi. Actually, my favourite is the Summer sausage. Ask josip for a taste!
Grobnik smallgoods are available from their shop and also online.
Jamie Oliver would love them…if only he knew!
Ashmore City Shopping Centre, Cnr Currumburra Rd & Nerang-Southport Rd., Ashmore Ph: 0401 723 406
Open: Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm; Sat 9am – 1pm