Pacdon of Bunnaloo - Manufacturer & Purveyor of Gourmet Foods

‘Poms behind Pacdon Park’ in the Weekly Times

Pacdon Park — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:26:14 +0000

July 7, 2010
THREE young Brits have brought the authentic tastes of their homeland to Australian tables, writes SARAH HUDSON

“For a couple of naive Pommy blokes in the middle of nowhere we’ve certainly made waves,” says James Arrowsmith, with a broad Lancashire accent.

“When I think back to when we first started I think, ‘gorblimey’.”

Making waves is most certainly an understatement when it comes to James, his business partner, chef Peter Tonge, and their company Pacdon Park, which specialises in gourmet traditional British pork products.

Based out of a converted dairy on a 1000ha pig, beef and sheep farm at Bunnaloo in southern NSW, the 20-something lads have, since 2008, made a range of pork pies, sausages, black pudding, haggis and smallgoods that have earned them industry plaudits and represent a remarkable story of success and hard work.

Pacdon Park is the brainchild of James, who has learnt the ropes of the business from the ground up, even converting the dairy himself, making the pie machine, learning pig butchery from a DVD, seeking seed investors, and schooling himself in smallgoods with the help of Peter.

“I was massively naive and green,” he says. “But I’m pleased as punch that I have made as many mistakes as I have because I have learnt so much from them.

“Before I started I’d never even made a sausage. But we are Brits who have grown up with this food since we were knee high to a tick … and now the best chefs in Melbourne want our stuff.

“When it’s your own business and you’re working for yourself you get a certain urgency or calling about what you do.”

That calling started back in 2002 when, back home in the UK, James put his business studies degree on hold for a gap year in Australia.

Short of funds, he decided to stay at Pacdon Park property at Bunnaloo, owned by his godfather Anthony Haworth.

“I came for one week but stayed six months. I just enjoyed it so much - I loved the lifestyle,” James says.

“Everything was just so much bigger. In the UK, we get such little portions, but here the steaks were huge and we went to a vineyard and came back with two boxes of grapes rather than a little stem.

“I come from a hilly, dry-stone wall area and here there’s huge gums and dead-straight roads and flat areas. It’s big-sky country.”

James learnt the ropes of the farm, right down to welding, and driving tractors.

But it was the pigs he developed a soft spot for.

He returned to the UK to take up his business studies but each European summer returned to Bunnaloo and Pacdon Park, each time chatting with his godfather about his growing desire to use his pigs to make products.

“We talked about pork pies because it’s the little things you miss when you are over here. And being a Pom I wasn’t used to Australian sausages.

“They’re generally pork in the UK not lamb or beef.

“I talked to a lot of ex-pats as well and it really hit me that people here didn’t understand pork pies.”

In 2006, he brought his mate Peter Tonge to our shores and together they set a mad program of developing Pacdon Park products using the property’s pigs and local ingredients.

With just a few pennies to their name, James raised $100,000, learnt on Google how to make a pork-pie machine, grabbed a copy of British food doyen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s DVD on pig butchery and sourced traditional old recipes.

James admits initially Aussies had to be educated about eating a cold pie, which they make using their own pastry from rendered lard and which includes coarsely-ground pork shoulder.

“Brits are about warm beers and cold pies and people don’t understand that here,” he says.

The business’s ascendancy last year earned them a NSW marketing award and now the duo can’t keep up with demand, particularly for their black pudding, which uses, among other ingredients, double cream, suet, spices and, of course, blood.

“It’s our most asked-for item, the most in demand,” James says. “It’s because you can’t get good black pudding in Australia. It’s too vinegary and mass-produced.”

Pacdon Park’s range of five British-inspired sausages include Lincolnshire, plain or sage, Somerset, which contains apple and cider, and a Yorkshire leek variety.

They also make gammon, black bacon and gala pie, which is baked in bread tins to give it a loaf appearance and contains a seam of hard-boiled egg.

Their dedication and success has clearly been hard won. Last Christmas, James says he worked 48 hours straight to keep up with demand.

“Believe me, over Christmas if you’d told me I’d be doing this in two years I would have said ‘no thank you’,” he says.

Each week he travels to Melbourne for farmers’ markets and says they have just opened a shop in Moama, 60km south.

While James admits he does miss a “good spell of drizzle”, British TV and English country pubs, “I’m creating everything I miss from home”.

“I love my job and I’m proud of my product and I never thought we’d have achieved so much,” he says. “Even though it’s been hard to make a quid, it’s a great lifestyle.”

Read the artical and see the photos @ http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/07/07/205621_country-living.html

Why should you use the best ingredients?

Pacdon Park — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:47:55 +0000

Its simple, the best tasting food contains the best tasting ingredients.

At Pacdon Park we only use the very best ingredients, locally grown, free range and organic where ever possible. When looking at each of our honourable products, you can see why.

Listed are some of the keys assets to our range

Beautiful British Bangers

- Natural Skins
- Coarsely Ground, Free Range, Female Pork Shoulder (the same meat you’d have in your roasts)
- Our own pre mix (Top secret and the essence of the sausage, not the naff stuff bought in by most butchers)
- Apple and Cider, grown just down the road
- Sage, grown by our neighbours at their vineyard

…. We understand that some just aren’t fans of pork, whether that be for religious or simply porkist reasons, so we do make excellent ‘Boarder Country Lamb, Red Gum Honey and Rosemary Sausages.’

- Locally grown lamb shoulder, on or off saltbush, coarsely ground of course
- Rosemary, grown by our neighbours
- Red Gum honey, collected by Bee’s Buzzing around Deniliquin

A little about red gum honey-

Red Gum is a common Eucalypt found in Australia that produces one of the darker premium varieties of honey. Having a relatively higher level of antioxidants compared to the rest, red gum honey has a thick constituency, a bold taste (like buckwheat honey) and a distinctive aroma which I believe fans of strong honey varieties would find it appealing. It’s also a favourite ingredient in bread baking and meat marinades.

Misunderstood Best Black Pudding

- Top quality Bacon
- Organic Oats
- Double Cream straight from the dairy

The Humble Pork Pie

- Australian Organic Flour (unbleached)
- Coarsely Ground, Free Range, Female Pork Shoulder
- Dry Rendered, preservative free, natural Lard, made in house from the back fat of free range pigs.

Many people read the word Lard, and say “oh dear, oh no, fatty!” but don’t let Lard scare you.

Australian culture is so fat-phobic we demonize some of the very foods that are best for us, and among those foods is homemade lard. The supermarket bought stuff isn’t worth bothering with, it’s hydrogenated to make it shelf-stable and bleached to make it appear whiter. What I’m talking about is lard from the fat of well-raised free range pigs.
What you don’t know about lard
Not only does lard make the very best pie crusts, it’s lower in saturated fat than butter.
Technically lard isn’t even a saturated fat, like olive oil, it’s high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, and it’s one of the best dietary sources of vitamin D. It also contains no trans-fats. If there’s fat to be avoided, trans-fats are the ones.

Murray Now - E-Newsletter 2010/3

Pacdon Park — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:29:39 +0000

Pacdon Park have today featured in the ‘Murray Now’ e newsletter as their lead story

‘Murray Now’ is the regional brand for a government initiative and partners that actively promotes and co-ordinates investment attraction within 21 local government areas that call the Murray region home. By offering a united approach, matching business needs with local expertise and opportunities Murray Now is perfectly placed to put out the welcome mat. The region is dominated by three major regional centres, Albury Wodonga in the east, Echuca-Moama in the central sub-region and Sunraysia, Wentworth and Mildura in the West. In addtion, there are a number of major towns including Deniliquin and Corowa in NSW and Swan Hill, Cobram and Yarrawonga in Victoria.

Follow the link below to read the story in full

http://murraynow.com.au/news/e-newsletter/issue-3-2010

War of the Roses (Smallgood style)

Pacdon Park — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:33:44 +0000

Several uses spring to mind when wondering what to do with a black pudding. Up in Lancashire (North West of England for those that don’t know) there’s a fashion for hurling them at a wall - during the Black Pudding Throwing Championships, held at the Royal Oak Public House in Ramsbottom.

As part of the tournament, the “Golden Grid” is transported from Bury town centre by the ELR steam train and carried up to Bridge Street with much pomp and ceremony, to be laid in the road next to the wall on which the Yorkshire puddings are mounted. With one foot on the grid, competitors (young and old) attempt to knock a pile of Yorkshire puddings from a wooden platform 20ft up the pub wall with three throws of the pudding. The winner is simply the person to dislodge the most Yorkshire puddings.

This historic tradition has been on the go for 150 years and attracts spectators and competitors from around the world. It’s thought that the contest is a revival of old clashes between the people of Lancashire and those from Yorkshire, during which Lancastrians hurled black puddings at their counterparts from the white pudding county of Yorkshire.

Pacdon Parks Best Black Pudding has found its fame at the farmers markets and chic eating spots across Melbourne town. The eating public and top chefs alike, besotted by it delicate texture, creamy aftertaste and well mix of spices.

Matt Wilkinson, Head Chef of Circa the Prince (one of Australia’s best restaurants), even though he is a Yorkshire man has called our best black pudding, and I quote “sensational” – when Yorkshire men fall in love with a Lancastrian made black pudding, you know your onto something special.

“Sausages & More” at Tony Tan’s Cooking Class

Pacdon Park — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:13:23 +0000

On the 31^st July we will be presenting ‘Sausages and More’ at Tony Tan’s Cooking class, rated 17^th best cooking class on the planet by the Financial Times (UK). If you want to learn about what we at Pacdon Park do when making our sort after range, look at booking online at www.tonytan.com.au/

Certainly a treat not to be missed, places are limited so book now.

Here is our write up in Tony’s Brochure

“Makers of excellent British smallgoods, English lads James Arrowsmith and Peter Tonge are committed to bringing to the table authentic, old-fashioned fresh pork sausages, gammon, Melton-Mowbray style pork pies that are moist and flavoursome. They use only natural casings and top-grade pork shoulder for their Somerset, Cumberland and Yorkshire leek sausages and their meat is sourced from ethically reared local pigs. If you love artisan pork sausages and pies as I do, you will love hands-on Sausages & More.”

“An invitation to Tony Tan’s for a meal is something to be eagerly anticipated. His cooking is savoury, masterly and absolutely mouthwatering.” Stephanie Alexander

Strengthening Resilient Economies

Pete — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:48:51 +0000

On March 5^th & 6^th a Regional Economic Development Conference was held in Griffith. The conference saw a wide range of National and Local highly regarded guest speakers from industry, development and government present their stories and views on topics including;-

Diversifying your business

Surviving Change or Changing to Survive

Greening your business

Master of Ceremonies for the event was Anne Delaney, ABC radio presenter and the conference was opened by Adrian Picoli MP, with a host of famous speakers including Gerry Lawson, Chairperson of SunRice and John Brogden, former Liberal party leader in the opposition, CEO of IFSA & Patron of Lifeline.

Our own James Arrowsmith was invited to speak on setting up a small business in regional Australia

Burns Night Supper, the how’s and why’s!

Pacdon Park — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:25 +0000

A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems including “Auld Lang Syne,” The suppers are normally held on or near the poet’s birthday, 25 January, although they may in principle be held at any time of the year.

Burns suppers are most common in Scotland, but they occur wherever there are Burns Clubs, Scottish Societies, expatriate Scots and lovers of Haggis!

The first suppers were held in Ayrshire at the end of the 18th century by his friends on the anniversary of his death, 21 July, In Memoriam and they have been a regular occurrence ever since.

Suppers may be formal or informal but they should always be entertaining. The only items which the informal suppers have in common are Haggis, Scotch whisky and perhaps a poem or two.

Start of the evening

Guests gather and mix as in any informal party.

Host’s welcoming speech

The host says a few words welcoming everyone to the supper and perhaps stating the reason for it. The event is declared open.

Everyone is seated at the table(s) and grace is said, usually using the Selkirk Grace. The Selkirk Grace is a well-known thanksgiving said before meals, using the Lallans Lowland Scots language.

The Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

The supper then starts with the soup course. Normally a Scottish soup such as Scotch Broth

Entrance of the haggis

Everyone stands as the main course is brought in. This is always a haggis on a large dish. It is brought in by the cook, generally while a piper plays bagpipes and leads the way to the host’s table, where the haggis is laid down. He might play ‘A man’s a man for a’ that’. The host, or perhaps a guest with a talent, then recites the Address To a Haggis

Address To a Haggis
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race! Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace As lang’s my arm.	(sonsie = jolly/cheerful) (aboon = above) (painch = paunch/stomach, thairm = intestine)
The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin wad help to mend a mill In time o’ need, While thro’ your pores the dews distil Like amber bead.	(hurdies = buttocks)
His knife see rustic Labour dicht, An’ cut you up wi’ ready slicht, Trenching your gushing entrails bricht, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sicht, Warm-reekin, rich!	(dicht = wipe, here with the idea of sharpening) (slicht = skill) (reeking = steaming)
Then, horn for horn, they stretch an’ strive: Deil tak the hindmaist! on they drive, Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve, Are bent like drums; Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive, “Bethankit” hums.	(deil = devil) (swall’d = swollen, kytes = bellies, (auld Guidman = the man of the house belyve = soon) (rive = tear, ie burst)
Is there that o’re his French ragout Or olio that wad staw a sow, Or fricassee wad mak her spew Wi’ perfect scunner, Looks down wi’ sneering, scornfu’ view On sic a dinner?	(olio = stew, from Spanish olla’/stew pot, staw = make sick) (scunner = disgust)
Poor devil! see him ower his trash, As feckless as a wither’d rash, His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash, His nieve a nit; Thro’ bloody flood or field to dash, O how unfit!	(nieve = fist, nit = louse’s egg, ie. tiny)
But mark the Rustic, haggis fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread. Clap in his wallie nieve a blade, He’ll mak it whistle; An’ legs an’ arms, an’ heads will sned, Like taps o’ thristle.	(wallie = mighty, nieve = fist) (sned = cut off) (thristle = thistle)
Ye Pow’rs wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o’ fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware That jaups in luggies; But, if ye wish her gratefu’ prayer, Gie her a haggis!	(skinkin ware = watery soup) (jaups = slops about, luggies = two-”eared” (handled) continental bowls)

At the line His knife see rustic Labour dicht the speaker normally draws and cleans a knife (or preferably sword), and at the line An’ cut you up wi’ ready slicht, plunges it into the haggis and cuts it open from end to end. When done properly this “ceremony” is a highlight of the evening.

Supper

At the end of the poem, a whisky toast will be proposed to the haggis, then the company will sit and enjoy the meal. The main course is haggis, and is traditionally served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed neeps. A dessert course, cheese courses, coffee, etc. may also be part of the meal. The courses normally use traditional Scottish recipes. For instance dessert may be cranachan or Tipsy Laird (sherry trifle) followed by oatcakes and cheese, all washed down with the “water of life” (uisge beatha) – Scotch whisky.

When the meal reaches the coffee stage various speeches and toasts are given. In order, the core speeches and toasts are as follows.

Loyal toast

The host proposes a toast to the health of the monarch (or to the leader of the country or clan if it is not a monarchy). Throughout the Commonwealth realms, the Loyal Toast is simply the words “The Queen”. After this toast it may be acceptable for guests to smoke or leave their tables.

Immortal memory

One of the guests gives a short speech, remembering some aspect of Burns’ life or poetry. This may be light-hearted or intensely serious. The speaker should always prepare a speech with his audience in mind, since above all, the Burns’ supper should be entertaining.

Everyone drinks a toast to Robert Burns.

Appreciation

The host will normally say a few words thanking the previous speaker for his speech and perhaps commenting on some of the points raised.

* NEWSFLASH * Pacdon wins award

Rob — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:17:31 +0000

Pacdon of Bunnaloo is extremely proud to announce that James Arrowsmith, co-founder and Managing Director of Pacdon, won the prestigious Powercor Australia Campaspe Murray Business Award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year at an awards ceremony at Rich River Golf Club last night.

James said it was a great honour to receive such an important award, and thanked the sponsors including Powercor and the Shires of Campaspe and Murrayshire, as well as congratulating fellow finalists. James is very proud to have been recognised for his hard work and hopes this will go towards his aim of making Pacdon the premier supplier of gourmet British pork products in Australia.

Pacdon’s Plans for Christmas

Pacdon Park — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:58:16 +0000

Ho Ho Ho,

Christmas is rapidly approaching and Pacdon of Bunnaloo will be providing all your Christmas favourites such as Hams, Pigs in Blankets, Sausages, Black Pudding and more!

Orders before November 15^th get 10% off the total amount. The deadline for all Christmas orders is Friday 4^th December.

Simply email or call.

Pacdon of Bunnaloo

Making the best of British, Down Under

Pacdon’s November markets

Rob — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:30:07 +0000

November is going to be an odd month for the Farmers Markets we attend as it is a split weekend, Saturday 31st October and Sunday 1st November. Therefore we’ll be slightly out of sync for the whole month. If you’re planning to catch us at any markets this month, here is the definitive list;

Saturday 31st October Echuca Farmers Market 8am – 1pm
Sunday 1st November Heathmont Market 8am – 1pm

Saturday 7th November Bundoora Market 8am – 1pm
Echuca Farmers Market 8am – 1pm
Sunday 8th November Williamstown Market 8am – 1pm

Saturday 14th November Croydon Market 8am – 1pm

Saturday 21st November Echuca Farmers Market 8am – 1pm

Saturday 28th November Yarraville Market 8am – 12noon
Sunday 29th November Mulgrave Farmers Market 8am – 1pm