From a humble home kitchen in the Wellington Shire comes Australia’s best gourmet sausage roll.
Vicki Rhodes of Gippsland Gourmet Pies claimed the coveted 2022 Great Aussie Pie Competition gourmet sausage roll title with her mouth-watering pork with caramelised apple number.
Competing for a third consecutive year, the 2022 Great Aussie Pie Competition has been the best bout yet for Gippsland Gourmet Pies, taking home five gold, four silver and three bronze medals – a medal for every category entered.
In the 2020 Great Aussie Pie Competition, Gippsland Gourmet Pies walked away with two gold and seven silvers, and then one gold and six bronze in 2021.
This year’s accolades came as quite a surprise for local pie-maker Vicki.
“The competition is normally in late November, but this year, it came out really early,” she said.
“Others prepare for months, but when I entered, I didn’t look at the date properly; when I finally did, I was like, ‘oh my god, it’s on Monday’, so I ended up making everything on the Saturday before the competition.
“Most people cook trays and trays, hundreds of pies and sausage rolls. I cooked six of each and picked the best four,” she said, laughing.
Vicki has been making delectable pies and sausage rolls in Gippsland for a little more than five years, and her products are a fan favourite at Lazarro Bros in Sale, Pickle and Pot in Maffra, Spud Shed in Trafalgar, Baw-Baw Food Hub in Warragul and Gibsons Cafe in Fish Creek.
You can also find Gippsland Gourmet Pies at the Sale, Traralgon and Glengarry farmers’ markets.
“I used to make gourmet sausage, but the hours were just horrendous,” Vicki said.
“One day, we started putting our pork into pies; people absolutely loved the pies, so then we started putting lamb and chicken into our pies, and that’s how it all started.”
After 12 months of juggling sausages and pies, Vicki said goodbye to the butcher, steering her full attention to Gippsland Gourmet Pies.
“My daughter [Keysa Gahan-Rhodes] used to work at Mr Pizza in Sale, and I started baking there,” Vicki said.
“They were absolutely fantastic, letting me bake at all hours of the night.
“Now I have a home kitchen, and I do it all from home. It’s non-stop, though; there are so many elements, it’s so time-consuming.
“I work every day, easily 100 hours a week.”
To make a single batch of pies takes as long as nine hours; an hour spent preparing, four-to-five hours of cooking the filling, then making the pastry, cooling the meat, baking the pie, then cooling them before they’re packaged and placed in a cool room.
Vicki, being the decorated professional pie maker she is, makes multiple batches at a time, wholesaling hundreds of pies each week.
But she’s speeding the process a just a bit, to produce more Gippsland Gourmet Pies products in coming months.
“The new machine I have just had delivered stamps the pastry, fills the pies, it’s amazing and takes out one labour unit, but it needs at least two people working on it,” Vicki said.
“Until now, I have been doing everything by hand.
“Gippsland Gourmet Pies is looking to upscale and produce a lot more pies and increase wholesale business, so definitely looking for at least two people to join.”
Vicki is already making plans for the 2023 Great Aussie Pie Competition, consulting her daughter, Keysa, for new pie designs.
“I’m lucky my daughter has impeccable tastebuds – she knows what flavours go with what, she’s so goddamn smart, she is really onto it, really onto it,” Vicki said.
With plans to perfect and re-enter the bronze and silver entrants in next year’s Great Aussie Pie Competition, Gippslanders can look forward to seeing new Gippsland Gourmet Pies on shelves soon.
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