JJs Bakery at Longford wins pie prizes

Longford-born bakery JJs has excelled in the Great Aussie Pie Competition, winning three gold, four silver and one bronze medal for its attempt at pastry-filled perfection.

Owner Nathan Johnson and Longford JJs manager Matt Wright travelled to Sydney on September 10 to hand-deliver the pastries for eight separate categories.

Local beef is a key to the success of many of the award-winning pies at JJs, including the brisket that is the hero in the Canadian maple bacon brisket pie which won gold and was ranked in the top five pies in the country in the barbecue meat category.

Gold also went to their pastie and pepper steak pie, silver to the chicken camembert and curried scallop pies, chunky beef and beef mince pies and bronze to the sausage roll.

There were 1500 entries from 200 bakeries around the country and Tasmania was well represented, especially in the final results.

St Leonards Milk Bar in Launceston won gold for its chicken, cheese, bacon and jalapeno pie and its pastie and four other pies medalled and M & D Butchery in Port Cygnet won gold for its German roulade, chunky pepper and wood smoked brisket and another three silvers, including for a wallaby and dark ale pie in the game meat category and two bronze medals.

A team of professional pie, sausage roll and pastie tasters had four days of intense judging and tasting in what must be for most a dream job, conducted as part of the Fine Food Australia event.

More than $50,000 in cash and products were up for grabs as prizes.

The event competition encourages bakers to refine their craft, improve and be more creative with their products and key ingredients for long-term success in a competitive industry.

For Nathan, born and bred in Longford and who started at JJs as an apprentice baker in 1997, starting work at midnight every night, it’s been an amazing rise to the top.

He went on to purchase the bakery in 2008 and since then has established JJs bakeries in Campbell Town, at Kmart Plaza in Launceston and Woolworths Plaza in Mowbray.

He entered the Great Aussie Pie Competition about 13 years ago and had good success with several gold medals. However, building the business, employing more than 100 people and raising children drew his attention in other directions.

“We have 18 different flavours of pies and this kind of recognition is not only good for the business, but it makes me proud to know that I’ve come up with these products and they’re some of the best in the country,” Nathan said.

“While the plain meat pie is always the favourite with customers, my personal favourite pepper steak is not far behind and I’m particularly excited about the new Cowboy range, which includes the beef brisket maple bacon, fiesta and MacCheese pies.