Wes Dempsey, from Elite Meats, Holt, and Cameron Fenson, from Meatways Butchery, Kambah, have placed third nationally, in the short cut and full rasher categories respectively.

In 2017, Richard Odell, from Griffith Butchery won the overall national award and Pialligo Estate Smokehouse won overall in 2014 and 2015.

The overall winner this year went to Campbell’s Superior Meats, in West Pymble.

In the ACT Elite Meats, Griffith Butchery, and Pialligo Estate Smokehouse took top three in the shortcut category. Meatways Butchery, Griffith Butchery and Southlands Quality Meats, Mawson, placed in the full rasher category.

More than 125 entries were judged by a panel of specialists, fleischmeister (meat master) Horst Schurger, with chefs Simon Bestley and Adam Moore, who assessed the appearance, aroma and taste of each entry.

It seems the bacon business is quite competitive in Canberra. Neither Dempsey or Fenson were willing to share any of their secret ingredients but both were happy to say you had to start with the best possible pork you could.

More than 70 per cent of bacon sold in Australia is from imported products but the Canberra butchers source theirs locally. Dempsey gets his from Cowra and Wombat, Fenson get his from Swan Hill.

“If you don’t start off with the best product you won’t get the best bacon,” says Dempsey.

“If you want to help a farmer buy Australian meat.

“We joke here that the only thing we have imported in this shop is me,” the Irishman says.

For Fenson, who’s been crowned “Canberra’s sausage king” for his award-winning range of gourmet sausages, competitions such as this allow him to get creative.

“I tend not to delve into too many value-added products,” he says.

“A gorgeous piece of porterhouse is perfect as it is, I like to keep all the meat fresh and natural.

“I put the detail, the creativeness, into the sausages and the bacon.”

Sometimes he admits he gets too creative.

“When I decided to change up the bacon recipe this year I just threw a few things in and it was great, the best bacon I’d ever made,” he said.

“When it came to recreating it for the competition it took me months to get it right, and I’m still not sure it is as good as that test batch.”

Fenson said the secret to a good bacon is a mix of many things.

“It's got to be tender, it’s got to have the nicely balanced smoky flavours, not too salty, a balance between salty and sweet, my sweetness comes from maple syrup … that’s the only ingredient I’ll tell you.”

Ahead of International Bacon Day, which coincides with Father’s Day on Sunday, we asked our award-winning butchers how they’ll be eating their bacon.

Fenson says you can’t go past bacon and eggs: “A nicely poached fresh egg, a slice of toast, some avocado, the best breakfast ever.”

And Dempsey is a fan of the BLT: “Some crispy bacon, tomato, fresh bread … I think I’ve talked myself into having one for lunch.”