Artisanal Sausage Makers Taking On The Big Boys

It used to be that no one wanted to know exactly what went inside a sausage. They knew it tasted good, but they didn’t want to ruin the experience by knowingly ingesting what was widely believed to be ground up pig parts like snouts, tails and entrails. It didn’t take long, though, before the contents of our food took center stage and people around the world began questioning what they were putting into their bodies.







Perhaps one of the slowest industries to adapt to the change in eating preferences is the sausage industry. Mass production and distribution of fatty links requires the addition of preservatives and flavor additives to enhance the shelf-life of meat products. While this process still hasn’t changed much, large producers of sausage are starting to use all-natural meats and creative wording on their packaging to appear more artisanal, but the fillers they use haven’t seemed to diminish So, much like the rest of the food industry that is converting to "buy-fresh-buy-local" principals, artisanal sausage makers are beginning to change the landscape for consumers who want a healthier, more natural-tasting sausage product.







Artisanal sausage makers are also increasingly turning to social media to differentiate their products by evangelizing the benefits of their production methods via Twitter, Facebook, and video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. The wise artisan shows videos that outline the sourcing methods of their meat and the careful, small-batch production runs that ensure that each sausage they produce is made with love. There are even blogs today, such as www.sausageobsession.com/blog that focus solely on artisanal sausage and include recipes, reviews, pictures, videos and interviews with artisan sausage masters.







One such artisanal sausage maker who has embraced social media is Stanley Feder from Simply Sausage. Although Stanley’s methods may not be considered "small batch" by some measures, his quality standards and product sourcing methods are much more aligned with the slow food movement than his larger counterparts. Simply Sausage produces a wide variety of artisanal sausages from all over the world and they do it without preservatives. Their packaging clearly outlines their frozen storage requirements because of the lack of shelf-life ehancers.







Taking this concept to another level, one can now find a large enclave of butchers who source their products locally from trusted farmers and craft their sausages in-house every day without preservatives to ensure maximum freshness and flavor. Often times, they’re using good cuts of meat and freshly ground spices instead of the scraps and spice packets used by large manufacturers and they’re distributing their products locally only. It’s not uncommon now to find their artisanal sausages at farmers markets, health food stores and food trucks cruising the streets in larger cities. A great example of this level of artistry is the Fatted Calf Charcuterie in San Francisco. They do a good volume of business but they still take great pride in sourcing from local farms and using the best ingredients.







It seems odd though that this practice of making small-batch, all-natural, artisanal sausage in the butcher shop is a new concept. In reality, it’s really no more than an industry coming full circle. Prior to the industrial revolution all sausage was made in small batches with all-natural meats. The cuts of meat used may have improved today but the overall concept of artisanal sausage making is as old as the need to preserve meat. After all that’s how sausage was born...out of the need to preserve fresh meat.







So the next time you’re in a supermarket and you’re about to grab that plastic-wrapped 6-pack of nitrate filled torpedos with the pretty packaging, consider your local butcher or your Saturday farmer’s food market for a change. You’ll instantly taste the difference and you’ll be doing your local economy good by buying local products.