The Sausagefest 13 – Kick-off Week
Dateline August 29, 2010
•
With less than a week to go here are the things worth knowing:
• Live music provide by Irv Pavlik – Acoustic guitar still sounds good.
www.youtube.com/irvpav
• Salmon sausage – sounds great, but where do they swim to?
• What will Ed Grabowski create this year?
• We hear that home made wine might be a competitive event.
• We’re looking for boutique beers from breweries from states other than Illinois. Who wants Blogo Brew?
• You never go broke betting against the Cubs after August 1.
• Sausages are coming in to vogue; remember we never left!
• Lake Superior Brewery private tasting at Sfest 13. Great beer from Duluth.
Summer Sausagefest Travel – August, 2010
Middleton, Wisconsin
Some folks go to Mecca, others visit Rome or Jerusalem, and pagans go to Vegas. If you are even a somewhat serious sausage fan you need to visit this nice town a few miles west of Madison, Wisconsin.
Why?
The National Mustard Museum (
www.mustardmuseum.com) is in downtown Middleton. While not every sausage requires mustard its one of the great natural combos – mustard on brats, mustard on hot dogs, mustard on polish sausage, etc.
The Museum has over 5000 mustards (probably more every day) and enough distractions to keep you entertained for thirty minutes or a couple hours.
The good news about going to Middleton is there a few more reasons to go here besides the museum.
For dinner you want to change paces from the mustard realm. Wander a few steps over to Louisianne's Etc. (
www.louisiannes.com) It’s a very solid restaurant doing great New Orleans style food. I didn’t see any sausage items on the menu but the Maple Cured Duck was very good and their wine list was well above average, with more reds to select from than whites.
For a different dining spot, you should also check out the Hubbard Avenue Diner (
www.hubbardavenuediner.com). The diner is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food is classic American solid.
If you’re in the area during good weather months and you are a golfer, you should not miss the Pleasant View Golf Course (
www.golfpleasantview.com). It really does have beautiful views.
Once you’re done with golf head directly to Capital Brewery (www.capital-brewery.com)(
www.capital-brewery.com). This is a serious brewery and any beer fan should make time in their schedule if they are anywhere near Madison. Capital Brewery products are readily available in the Madison area, if you can’t get to Middleton – which would be your loss.
Weather you’re in Middleton for a day or just for dinner; it is one of America’s nice little towns.
Sausagefest 14 – September 4th, 2010
As summer 2010 is starting its time to get Sausagefest 14th on your radar!
While a Sausagefest party may seem trivial in the big picture of life, a good party with certain flair is always worth attending. After all, what’s wrong with great wine, beer, sausage and friends?
We now have evidence that some of our Sausagefest veterans counsel their relatives to have weddings on any other Labor Day weekend day other than Saturday. It’s an obvious piece of counseling. Why jeopardizes a wedding celebration when you could attend Sausagefest? It’s important to have priorities.
Last year we had intense competition for The Blue Ribbon champion sausage. Every year it gets tougher to figure out the King Sausage. Lynn and Eric Slezak created the top sausage with their Red Wine and Shitake Mushroom Sausage.
It was the Bomb.
The wine consumption was memorable as well. The morning after we were picking wine bottles out of the shrubbery. Our auditors quit the official count at 58 – our original count of 44 did not take into consideration certain parts of the grounds.
Who knew you could throw an empty wine bottle that far?
This year we are instructing our wine staff that in addition to Kevlar they arm themselves with tracking devices for each bottle opened. Since so many of our attendees are on work-release programs we should be able to figure out the tagging required.
Until September 4th, please keep these short topics in mind:
• We need a theme for Sausagefest 14. Last year was The Day the Sausage Stood Still.
What would suggest for this year’s fest?
• As you travel this summer keep an eye out for exceptional sausages from local artisan sausage makers.
• The police warrants have been settled and the people with ankle bracelets will have their own separate area.
• We will no longer allow live sheep to enter the party grounds.
This year’s theme: The Sausages of Wrath (our apologies to John Steinbeck)
In Memoriam - The Sausagefest Official Mascot
June 1st, 2010
For eleven of the thirteen years of Sausagefest we had the pleasure of having a special guest who embraced the event like no one else.
This year our Sausagefest mascot, Buddy, will not be part of Sausagfest 14.
Like most of our friends and family, Buddy was of mixed breeding. A little Black Lab, maybe some German Shepard, maybe some Border Collie. Sausagefest was his Christmas day. He loved sausages and working the many guests. He was not the kind of dog who would paw you for more handouts. He could look at you and figure out if you were a soft touch or not. Even with the large crowds and many new people to the event, he was always a personable host and greeter.
He was certainly a critical judge of sausage and any winning sausage entry had to pass his okay. One evening I had brought home some sausage s from a Wisconsin sausage maker of note. I cooked up some of the Italian sausage. We both ate a small sampling portion. I thought it was a bit odd in taste, but Buddy had a more forceful opinion – he threw it up within ten seconds of eating it. With that I gave Buddy the whiff test for the other two types of sausages I had brought back. When he started backing away it was proof enough the sausages hadn’t travelled well.
In addition to being our official Sausagefest mascot he was also a vigilant protector of our backyard. He was amazingly fast for his 70 pounds. He was true to his hunting genes and tracked down fourteen and a half squirrels. By World War II pilot standards he was almost a triple Ace (five kills made you an Ace). But, when he wasn’t on the hunt for squirrels he was the best family dog and friend.
We will miss him greatly.
His illness was on him suddenly and we chose not to prolong his pain. He died May 22.
Sausagefest 2009 – The Summary
Thanks to all the guests, friends and friends of friends that helped make 2009 a great Sausagefest.
Sausagefest has a simple goal – find the best sausages, enjoy tasting them, then let people know who’s making them and if they are publicly available. We also recognize that there professional sausage makers and amateurs.
Too often sausages get a bad rap. But, when you taste a sausage made by an sausage artist like Hungry Hill, Elburn Market, Lalich’s Deli, Gaziano’s, (Des Moines) or Goodrich’s (East Lansing) you know you are eating a quality food product.
The sausages from professional sausage makers at Sausagefest 2009 were many, but the following sausages and their sausage maker were exceptional.
Exceptional Sausages (Professional Sausage Artists):
Goodrich’s Shop Rite (East Lansing, Mich.)
• Lamb with cinnamon, mint & pine nuts
• Brown Sugar bats
Jim & Gary’s Meats (Pecatonica, Il)
• Bacon Cheeseburger Brats
Hungry Hill Sausage (Homewood, Il)
• Hot Italian Sausage
Lalich Deli (Niles, Il)
• Ćevapčići sausages
Paulina Market (Chicago, Il)
• Veal Curry Brats
Schmeissers (Niles, Il)
• Metwurst
These vendors have some outstanding sausages and you should seek them out.
Exceptional Sausages (Amateur Sausage Makers)
Best Sausage From a Existing Recipe
Urfa (Turkish Lamb sausage:)
• Norah Colson adopting a Saveur Magazine recipe
Italian Sausages :
• Ed Grabowski: Garlic & Black Pepper Italian
• Michael Tepper: Hot Sicilian
• Richard Tuttle: Italian Cucina
Creole Sausage:
• Chuck Rizzo
Red Wine & Shitake Mushroom Pork Sausage
• Lynn & Eric Slezak
All of these amateur chefs created terrific tasting sausages. Congratulations to all of them and THANKS for your hard work and creativity.
Blue Ribbon Champions for 2009
- Lynn and Eric Slezak
Congratulations to the husband and wife team of Lynn and Eric Slezak for their Red Wine & Shitake Mushroom Pork Sausage.
A wonderful marriage of flavors where the mushroom didn’t overtake the meat and red wine. It was a terrific balance of all the flavors working together.
How a husband and wife can make sausage together and not kill each other is a mystery. But we’re glad you found the team work to create this great sausage.
Thanks for stopping by and we hope you become a regular visitor to Sausagefest.com.
