The Cairngorms Sausage

‘This is the story of the most famous sausage in the world’, Jamie Barnett declares. ‘Well, Nethybridge anyway!’ Jamie is the manager of the Balliefurth Farm Shop, owned by Patrick and Abby Harrison who took over the original village butcher’s in 2015 from the Mustard family. Mike Mustard (great name for a butcher!) still works in the shop, which had been in his family since 1948, its reputation for quality meat reaching the far corners of the Highlands. Anyone heading to the ski slopes in the Cairngorms, or to fish on the River Spey, would stop at Mike’s. Nothing was too much trouble to prepare or order – specific cuts, bones for the dogs, local honey and strawberries – and that ethos remains in the Balliefurth Farm Shop as Jamie is generous with his time, making sausages with me, mince and burgers with my son for his outdoor courses, and dealing with odd catering requests from my daughter when she cooks in Highland shooting lodges.