Best sausage in Scotland announced as Fife butcher wins championship

Daily Record

19-05-2025

Tom Courts, a third-time winner, "doesn't think there's a sausage in the country that has secured so many titles"
We all love a good sausage here in Scotland. Whether it's on a roll, in a steak pie, or served with mash and beans, you will be hard pushed to find a Scot who doesn't select a sausage as their protein of choice when plating up tea.
But a Fife butcher can now lay claim to the best banger in Scotland after lifting the championship for the third year in a row with a record-breaking Burntisland banger that has been named Scottish Pork Sausage Champion 2025.
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Tom Courts Quality Foods lifted the Championship for a whopping third time at the recent Scottish Craft Butchers bi-ennial Trade Fair at Perth, beating off fierce competition from over 60 independent butchers.
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And owner Tom couldn't be more delighted at his sausage being marked out as the best in the country.
"We won the Scottish Championship in 2011 and 2013 and to top the charts again this year is just fantastic," he said.
"I don't think there's a sausage in the country that has secured so many titles."
Tom and his team hand craft and sell around 300 kilos of pork links every week from their production unit and shop at Burntisland, outsourcing to customers throughout Britain.
His haul of awards for his pork sausage includes coming in as Reserve Scottish Champion in 1989 and 2009.
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The meat man took a break from the industry between 1992 and 2003 but his premier pork product has proved it's got real staying power.
"I stay true to my dad's original recipe which has proved a best seller for two generations," he explained.
"My dad said we should compete on quality – not price – and that's exactly why our pork sausage is a winner.
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Although he didn't reveal what the "secret twist" is, Tom took the helm himself for the national championship - hand-making the sausage that claimed the crown.
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Judges named it East of Scotland Champion before selecting it from five regions to be named Scottish Champion.
"I'm really chuffed and the whole team is absolutely delighted," he went on.
"We were up against some of the finest butchers in the country and although I know we have a great product, there's nothing like the thrill of hearing your name called out as being the best in the business.
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"Our pork links are such a signature product for us at Tom Courts Quality Foods. They're a huge seller and bring us a lot of business so it's just wonderful to see them secure another Scottish championship. What a treble!"
Gordon King, Scottish Craft Butchers executive manager, said it was the pork sausage that others would aspire to.
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"The Scottish Pork Sausage Championship is one of the most coveted and fiercely contested competitions in the business and to take the title with the exact same product three times is outstanding," he said.
"The standard of entry this year was extremely high which reflects well on our local independent craft butchers who supply this household staple food as one of their key products on a daily basis.
"But Tom Courts produced something exceptional yet again and wowed the judges to take a third championship title for his pork links."