sausage. plump, juicy, flavorful sausage. who doesn't love it? (vegetarians, please don't answer that.)
i had the pleasure of touring the sausage craft facility this past weekend and was lucky enough to sample and walk away with some goods. sausage craft is a new wholesale food workshop that believes locally-raised livestock provides better-tasting meats, something i find very few people can argue with.
chris mattera ("the sausage guy" as their website boasts) has been into sausage longer than his (business) partner, brad hemp ("the sales guy"). i haven't had the pleasure of meeting chris, but brad is beyond knowledgeable and embraces the fact that he has to live with copious amounts of sausage jokes for the rest of his life. now, only after several months, they've crafted (no pun intended) 15 different types of sausages and local markets and restaurants have welcomed their meaty delights with open arms. (really trying to refrain from obvious jokes here.)
during my visit, i got to try their hot italian sausage (with loads of chili flake and fennel) and the carmelina's (coarsely-ground lean pork with a little heat, slightly dried, and flavored with a rare regional italian pepper). when i got back to dc, i was still craving brad's sausage, so i cooked up some hot chorizo and della nonna (coarse-ground pork with white wine, pecorino cheese, and parsley). they can't do wrong! i have a couple more in my freezer i haven't tried yet..and i'm sitting here thinking of what to make for dinner this week.
the aftershock of my visit? brunch yesterday was a disaster. brad ruined sausage for me forever. i don't want anyone's sausage but his. i'm going to have to plan trips to richmond every month or so to pick up exorbitant amounts of sausage from now on.
okay, okay. all jokes aside, sausage craft's sausage is made from humanely-raised meat without any added hormones, antibiotics or steroids. no preservatives. no synthetic casings. they also do custom orders, so if you're looking for a particular meat or style, brad and chris will work with you to produce an amazing end result. it's about as good as it gets. read more