THAT elusive ?sausage smile? helped Hatherleigh butcher Adrian Edwards scoop two gold and three silver awards in the recent National Sausage Competition .

The event, which attracted almost 500 entries split into various classes, was held as part of the National Meat Fair at G-Mex Manchester.

This was the first time Adrian, 37, had entered the competition ? and he was delighted with the result.

?It takes a lot of time to get the correct ?sausage smile? so that it bends and browns and smiles out of the pan at you,? he said.

Adrian said sausages have now become ?hip?. ?Everywhere you look there is sausage and mash on the menu. Sausages are being pushed forward as a quality convenience food.

?They were once seen simply as a cheap meal you cook for the kids for tea. You can do that, but we are trying to raise the profile of the British sausage. All the entries in the competition came from independent butchers ? no multiples were allowed to enter.?

The five varieties of sausages Adrian entered were all successful in gaining high marks.

Top scorer was hickory smoke pork sausage ? gaining 92 out of a possible 100 marks.

A sample of one pound of cooked and raw sausage was judged on various criteria. Adrian said the judges were looking at consistent size, filling, internal faults, texture, splitting, taste and smell.

Adrian?s other gold award winning variety was the honey roast pork sausage in the traditional fine cut pork class.

The three silver award winners were traditional coarse cut pork sausage, herby pork sausage and pork sausage with sun-dried tomatoes and basil.