What Makes Our Sausages Superior

Our sausage is a vastly different product than that made by local USDA meat plants and grocery stores. Now, I don’t mean to disparage the grocery store meat departments and I certainly don’t mean to disparage the USDA meat plants since they are crucial to our business and since they are hard working folks trying to get by like everybody else. But their reality is different than our reality. Large grocery stores and USDA butcher shops are in a high volume, low margin business. They have very little pricing flexibilty. Their goal has to be to streamline production and cut costs wherever possible if they are to survive. Our goal is to provide you with the finest possible product. We’ll spend as much time as it takes to make the best possible product and spend what money we have to to get the best possible ingredients. In return, we ask a fair price for the products of our labor. Let’s dig into it.

The Finest Meat

Otto von Bismarck famously said, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” We disagree. Where other sausages are made from “scraps”, our sausages are made from the finest cuts of pastured pork including loin, shoulder and belly(bacon). You’ll find no lips and @$$holes in our sausages.

Seasoning

Sausages are typically made from a “seasoning mix”. Essentially, you add one packet of seasoning to every 25 pounds of sausage (or whatever it is) and you’re done. I think that in the case of USDA butchers, by law they can only add approved seasoning mixes. No creativity allowed. If the USDA hasn’t approved a mix for that sausage variety, then they can’t make that sausage. Crazy.

We put great effort into creating the perfect seasoning mix for each of our sausages. Our hot italian sausage is based on the family recipe of one of my best friends from childhood whose grandparents moved here from Italy. It is seasoned with organic fennel grown by Kingbird Farm, giving it a unique, anise-scented appeal not available through other channels. Our kielbasa is made with fresh, local, organically grown stiff-neck garlic provided by Red Tail and Kingbird Farms. You won’t find that in a USDA approved seasoning packet.

Finally, our seasoning mixes are put together fresh every week. We chop the garlic, we fresh grind the pepper and. nutmeg and we test the seasoning balance. Again, you won’t find this in a seasoning packet.

Quality Control

To create a truly premium sausage, care needs to go into every step.

Our quality control begins in the meat prep stage. We get whole shoulders, loins and hams back from the slaughterhouse. These are carefully broken down by hand so that we can remove all of the connective tissues, bones, cartilage, glands and other undesirable tissues. This is distinct from the standard approach of “throw all of the scraps into the grinder”.

We do everything possible to insure the finest grind. This includes both absolute temperature control and patience. The best grind with the least fat smear is made with meat that is as close as possible to 32 degrees fahrenheit that is allowed to work it’s way through the grinder on its own without cramming it through with a meat pusher. Both of these crucial quality control points require time. When you prep meat it inevitably warms up and has to go back in the cooler for a good long while to get it back to 32. The meat has to be cut small enough that it can make it’s way through the grinder and then you’ve got to drop each piece of meat through the grinder individually rather than just cramming it all in. These steps eliminate the dreaded fat smear, which will cause all of the fat to render out of a sausage, leaving it both greasy and dry at the same time. Yuck.

Once the meat comes out of the grinder we create the primary bind. This involves kneading the sausage mix with a little added liquid until the mixture comes to a uniform consistency. This process is analogous to creating a good bread dough and is distinct from the sausages you see in most grocery stores. What happens when we make the primary bind is that we create an emulsion of fat, water and protein that will give the finished sausage a uniform consistency. A sausage that has not been through this process will have a crumbly texture and appearance, much like fresh hamburger. Most grocery stores grind their sausage mixes directly into casings, which cuts their sausage making time in half but leaves them with a crumbly sausage. The reason our sausages have that extra snap, texture, and mouthfeel is that we take the time to make the bind.

Conclusion

Superior meat. Superior seasoning. Superior process., These are the things that allow us to sell you a superior product.