A CHEF from Germany now based in West Cork has been named top sausage in a prestigious nationwide food contest.

Ralph Schüller won a bronze award for his bratwurst sausages at the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards.

His company, A Chef’s Affair, beat off competition from across the country and took home the coveted prize in the All Year Around Sausages category, just narrowly losing out to Aldi and Portumna Pastry from Galway.

Ralph, who lives in Tragumna and has been in West Cork since 2019, said: ‘Winning this award feels like a milestone and truly is a major achievement. I’m proud and do feel honoured as well. Looking forward I hope that more people will come, buy my sausages and treat themselves with a natural product made with West Cork ingredients, know-how and love.’

The sizzling sausages were judged by top chefs, recipe developers and industry experts.

To collect the award, the culinary creator and his business partner Anna Seidel attended a glamorous awards evening at The Mansion House, Dublin.

The event was hosted by writer and comedian Keith Farnan.

Ralph, a bit of a comedian himself, hails originally from the German city of Paderborn and started working as a chef in 1987.

Since then, he has hosted cooking courses, put his skills to the test on Dutch sailing ships and worked as a private chef, among other things.

Even former Liverpool FC manager Jürgen Klopp tasted his cooking in the early 2000s during his stint at Mainz ‘05 when Ralf worked at a local hotel.

In 2019, the food aficionado began his West Cork adventure by selling home-baked sourdough bread at Skibbereen Market, alongside his sausages produced after his own recipe by Walsh’s Victualler’s in Bridge Street, Skibbereen.

Every Wednesday and Saturday at Skibbereen Farmers Market, you can speak to Ralph about the catering and home cooking service he runs, and, of course, try the award-wining sausages.