The North Shore Dish Sausage-Making Traditions By Chuck Viren
Meat cutting is an age-old profession. The tricks of the trade have been passed on from generation to generation. That knowledge includes the art of making sausages. Evidence of sausage making goes back many thousands of years. In talking with sausage makers from Old World Meats in Duluth and Gene’s IGA and Johnson’s Foods in Grand Marais, it is clear that the old traditions of sausage making are being handed down within families and to younger mentees. At Old World Meats in Duluth, there are five generations of Wrazidlos in the meat business. Owner/operator Paul Wrazidlo says his grandfather opened Frank’s Meats in Duluth’s West End in 1951. Most of his cousins, aunts and uncles are also in the meat business. The long experience in the meat business extends beyond the family at their store, too. As other meat markets have closed their doors, Frank had employed the best people from those stores. He claims the people behind the counter at his store have a combined experience in the business of over 200 years. According to Frank, their business is, “one big family of the best who have stayed in the business.” When someone walks into their store, they will be greeted by the wood-smoke aroma of their four smokehouses that are running constantly. So, when it comes to sausage, what does he sell? The best seller of their up to 50 varieties is the Landjager. They produce 20,000 snack sticks a day and sell them as far away as Guam. The Landjager was originally a round sausage, but when it was discovered it could dry faster after it was pressed between two boards, it developed its flat shape. As two links are produced tied together, the links could be fit into a belt loop and was used as rations for the German army. It has a real old-world flair due to its smokiness and flavors of caraway. Other popular varieties are their Philly cheese brat, their blueberry wild rice brat, and their beer brat, which is also served at Grandma’s restaurants. While Old World Meats does take in venison for processing, I asked Paul to give advice to those who would prefer to make their sausage at home. He said, ”Do it! It will be fun.” He cautioned about getting the seasonings right, however, especially the salt. He recommended that people go to their local meat market and have them measure the seasonings.
At Johnson’s Foods in Grand Marais, Marlo Larson and Kelli Lawrence like to work with a variety of meats in their sausage recipes. They commonly work with elk, chicken, turkey and lamb, in additional to the traditional pork. | KELLI LAWRENCE Jarid Lashinski of Gene’s IGA in Grand Marais learned the trade from his father, Gene and has about 20 years experience. Gene was a meat cutter for the store before he bought it from the Poynters in 1978. He says his father has been a mentor and a great resource for him; he now cherishes
his memories of working behind the meat counter with his dad. Lashinski inherited a lot of sausage recipes from his father, including their old recipe for Swedish potato sausage. They also made a lot of bratwurst and Italian sausage in the early years. However, Lashinski loves
to tinker with recipes and estimates he has made around 50 different varieties over the years. Among his innovations are discovering a partially dehydrated cheese for his cheddar brats that melts at a higher temperature so that the cheese doesn’t all run out of the brat when it cooks. That of course led
NORTHERN WILDS
NOVEMBER 2020
23
