Whew. I may have overdosed on sausages. And I love sausages–their spicy, salty meatiness, their crackling skin, the spurt of hot juices when you bite into a fresh link, the taste of wood fire in a smoked one. I vote for sausage over bacon at breakfast and never malign a good hot dog. A cheap Slim Jim is a favorite accompaniment to the bottle of red wine my husband and I take on our autumn color tours. Long before packages of Wisconsin’s Johnsonville kielbasa–fresh, not smoked–were available in local Kroger stores, I would have traveling friends buy several for me to throw in the freezer. Sadly, Johnsonville no longer makes fresh kielbasa, and none of the local places I’ve tried makes a sausage that re-creates its assertive garlicky, peppery, juicy quality, with enough fat and seasonings to keep the link moist and flavorful. I was excited, then, at the July opening of Biercamp Artisan Meats. Maybe there I would find my ideal sausage again.
Biercamp sits just south of the Produce Station on South State Street. Despite an opening long delayed by zoning troubles, youthful owners Walter Hansen and Hannah Cheadle are warm, friendly, and enthusiastic proprietors, and customers seem equally enthused about the products. Hansen, a third-generation butcher, produces fresh and smoked sausages, jerky, snack sticks, bacon, and peameal bacon–a cornmeal-coated Canadian version of our own Canadian bacon.
Like a kid in a candy shop, during my first visit I filled a basket with sausages and jerky. Not content with just beef jerky, Hansen makes chicken and pork as well. Snack sticks come in many varieties, including BBQ smoke, chicken fire, and teriyaki beef. Offered as cocktail accompaniments before a couple of small dinner parties, these smoked treats received mixed reviews. Although the chicken jerky tasted more of salt than essential flavor, the beef was moist and meaty, and the pork was everyone’s hands-down favorite. Reactions to the snack sticks ranged from mild enjoyment to active dislike, but none garnered whole-hearted enthusiasm (then again, neither would a Slim Jim–though I’d have rated it about mid-pack).
The main entree at one of those parties was a duo of fresh sausages chosen during that first visit: grilled fresh Polish sausage and smoked Gouda and Portobello bratwurst, paired with vegetables from the early fall garden. Hansen rotates seasonal ingredients to enliven his bratwurst, and this combo was the evening’s favorite–spicy, juicy, and nicely flavored by the cheese and mushrooms; in comparison, the crumbly Polish links lacked savor. Another dinner’s cherry chicken bratwurst had the bland taste and desiccated texture of most chicken or turkey sausages. (Why bother to try to make a low-fat version of an intrinsically fatty product?) But cubes of jalapeno smoked sausage, a pork-and-beef combo, were a delightful addition to a corn and crowder pea saute we ate scooped into corn tortillas. And the shop’s spicy Italian sausage added zest to an earthy tomato-chard pasta sauce.
Biercamp’s treatment of two standards–ring bologna and hot dogs–is interesting. Made with coarsely ground rather than pureed meat, and assertively spiced and smoked, they’re great heated and served with the shop’s house-made baked beans and pickled Hungarian peppers. (Eckrich fans will find these versions bewildering, but that’s not an indictment of Biercamp.) I liked Hansen’s lightly smoked bacon, too, though next time I’ll ask for a thicker slice with the rind removed; I found the crunchy skin distracting in my otherwise tasty BLT. And the peameal bacon was a weekend treat with eggs and toast.
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Biercamp also makes delicious, sloppy, overstuffed carnivore sandwiches. Pulled pork is available most days. Order it without the overly sweet barbecue sauce and add a bit more salt to better savor the supremely meaty moist pork and the bits of browned crackling fat. It comes with dill pickle and raw onion slices, but it cries out for coleslaw or Biercamp’s own spicy-sweet pickled green tomatoes for absolute perfection. (Please!) Incredibly succulent slow-cooked brisket, also often on the menu, is a better vehicle for the barbecue sauce. During U-M football games, they grill bratwurst outdoors, a reason to brave State Street traffic. And a tantalizing sample of steamship round makes me hope that it’s listed on the chalkboard next time I’m there. All the sandwiches are served on soft buns that disintegrate quickly, so don’t wait long to eat them and don’t waste time wishing for lavish sides. These sandwiches are a celebration of meat.
Short of making my own–and I am a lazy cook–I may not have found my ideal fresh kielbasa, but Biercamp offers many other interesting and expanding options, and if Hansen follows through on his ambition to produce cured meats–pancetta, guanciale, etc.–I’ll have yet another reason to visit the shop.
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Biercamp
1643 S. State St.
995-2437
www.bier-camp.com
Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Open early on football Saturdays.
Sandwiches, $4.99-$6.99. Sausages, bacon, jerky, $6.99-$17.99/lb.
