Bloomberg Businessweek Europe - 23.09.2019

71

::

.IIIII

P S YSTYSTYSTP

IIII

THEONE Bloomberg Pursuits September 23, 2019

Kielbasa sogood, you’ll want to

know how the sausage is made

Photograph by Heami Lee

Steaks and chops

are the heroes

of butcher shop

cases,but whynot

sausages? Surely

elevating humble

ground meat with

spices is a more

ambitious endeavor.

“Kielbas a”is Polish

for sausage, but

el sewhereit’s often

synonymous with

a darkredlink

that’s as subtle as a

brick. Andyet J&E

SmallGoodsowners

Jocelyn Guest and

Erika Nakamura

aim higher. The

duo opened the

now-sh utteredWhite

GoldButchersin

New Yorkbefore

movinginto

consumer-packaged

goods. Their juicy

links are made from

sustainablyraised

beef andpork,

without nitrates

or nitrites, andare

redolent in hickory

smokiness.

THE COMPETITION

• For a decade,
  Olympia Provisions
  in Portland, Ore., has
  been a champion
  of nose-to-t ail
  butchery. Its
  bratwurst isflavor ed
  withpotent spices—
  ginger, nutmeg,
  and whitepepper—
  and runs$15 for
  ¾pound.


• The Spanish
  chorizo from
  Publican Quality
  Meats ($10 per
  pound) is worth a
  tripto Chicago in
  itself. The tangy,
  spicy, ready-to-eat
  cured sausage is
  a deep reddish
  hue, with rounds of
  melt-in-your-mouth
  fat and a big hit of
  pimentón for color
  andheat.


• The old-school
  NewYork butchers
  Schaller & Weber
  have morphed from
  a local German
  shopto a nationally
  belovedbrand.
  Their meaty Polish
  kielbasa ring ($10
  per pound) is
  coarselyground and
  headywith garlic.

THECASE

Keyto J&E’s

excellence is the

smoky flavor. Their

sausages arehung

overnight to dry

before smoking

so the hickory

canpermeate the

meat moredeeply.

Nakamura and

Guestalsoburn

theacrid flavoroff

wood chipsbefore

smokingthe links,

making their flavor

sweeter androunder.

And then there’s the

incredi ble texture, a

mix of chopped and

ground meat with

lush littlepockets of

fat. Allthis care adds

up: J&E sausages

aren’t cheap. But

highlight-reel-quality

meat shouldn’t be.

$13 for ½pound;

jesmallgoods.com