When it comes to manufacturing salami, Katikati's Bill Hensley sticks with what he knows best
- a tried and true old Italian recipe using modern
day ingredients.
'It's one of those things that just worked,” says Bill.

In the almost 20 years of making salamis, Bill has changed neither the recipe nor the smoking methods used. Both were perfect from the beginning.
The traditional method of smoking and curing of all Basecamp salamis makes their flavour and texture unique.
'To me perfecting this salami recipe is like winning your first yacht race and not knowing how to put the sails up.”
Laboratories in Auckland helped Bill make his original recipe for salami back in 1991 – the same recipe is used for the salami he makes today.
Consumers become hooked on Basecamp's venison salami.
'We're the biggest producer of venison salami in New Zealand,” says Bill.
'The first thing we ever made was bier sticks and we still sell a couple of hundred packs a week.
'You've got to stick with what you're good at.”
The venison used in the manufacture of the salamis is wild venison, approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF).
The salamis are put into their casings, with the curers and spices added, and hung for a minimum of 18-20 hours in hand-built smoke houses at the Basecamp processing plant, located on Lockington Road, Aongatete, near Katikati.
'We don't add any gluten or fillers; it's straight venison and the spices and curers are also gluten free.”
A small amount of free range pork back fat is used to bind the salamis to give them their delicious taste, says Bill.
He says when he first started producing venison salami no one else was producing it and he had to convince consumers to eat it.
'We started marketing at the Great New Zealand Craft Shows throughout the country. We sold out at each venue and just got stronger and stronger.”
One of the things that attracts consumers to his salami, and why it is so popular, is because it is low in cholesterol and fat.
'We have created salami that is low in fat and is gluten free and that's why we sell it like we do.”
Most salamis are made from beef and contain up to 60 per cent fat. Basecamp's smoked venison salamis contain only eight per cent fat.
Bill and his small team make five flavours of venison smoked salami: pepperoni, garlic, chilli, wild game, and red wine and cracked pepper.
Basecamp also manufactures smoked venison ham, venison sausages, and smoked venison bier sticks. Succulent burger venison patties and venison saveloys are two new lines recently added to the list of small goods.

The traditional smoking method involves smoking the salamis over a wood burning fire. This adds a delicious smoky flavour to all Basecamp's products.
Over the Christmas period, Basecamp made some changes to its smokery and instead of receiving cartons of meat from the freezing works, they now receive wild deer in whole form and sell the top cuts of meat to consumers and restaurateurs.
'We have added a chiller, processing plant, and two chiller trucks.”
The boutique salami business now manufactures 1000 salamis a week for hunters and for retail.
Hunting has always been a passion of Bill's, hunting deer, possum and pigs for the last 45 years. In those 45 years he has foot-shot more than 1000 deer, and prior to establishing the salami division of Basecamp he provided guided hunting tours throughout New Zealand.
Hunters' can bring in all their wild game such as deer, chamois, goats, wild boar, possums, hares, ducks or wallaby to Basecamp and have it manufactured into salamis.
There is a designated area for hunters' meat with refrigeration facilities and processing rooms and their own smoke house.
Bill says hunters take a lot of pride in procuring their wild game, which is then turned into food for the family.
Every week Bill says hunters and farmers bring in about 500kg of wild game and beef homekill, which averages out at about 15 hunters a week mainly from the Bay of Plenty. Many hunters also courier their wild game frozen in chilli bins from all parts of the country.
Bill says he has no intention in exporting his salami and feels he would be much better to go to Australia and make it there, in addition to the business here in New Zealand.
He is in the early planning stages of opening up a processing plant in Australia to meet the needs of that market. He has already printed salami

casings for when he sets up shop over there.
Bill already spends a number of months every year in Australia where he goes wild boar hunting, gold dredging and fishing for barramundi. He also takes guided hunting tours on a cattle station in Cape York, Northern Queensland.
With the new venture Bill will be taking bulls off the station and then processing them into salami using the same recipe he uses for the smoked venison salami in New Zealand.
For more information on Basecamp visit www.basecampsalamis.co.nz