‘Tis the season for parties, fancy buffets, simple suppers on busy nights, cozy breakfasts and leisurely brunches. ‘Tis also the season for sausages, a versatile and welcome addition to any of the season’s menus. Think grilled garlic, Cajun and mild Italian sausages served with a variety of mustards for a special appetizer. Imagine the aroma of sausage and sauerkraut simmering on the stove after a busy day of shopping. Or fragrant maple breakfast sausages cooked to perfection. Or stratas stuffed with sausages for a festive brunch.
Karlios Hinkebein sells fresh sausages he processes himself at his farm near Cape Girardeau. Like the fictional Fidelis Waldvogel in Louise Erdrich’s novel “The Master Butchers Singing Club,” he is talented with sausage recipes. Unlike Waldvogel, Hinkebein doesn’t sell his sausages from a suitcase. Instead, he drives a huge red truck, loaded with freezers holding sausages and cuts of pork and beef to farmers’ markets in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.
At the markets, he tests new products, gives cooking directions and just plain enjoys talking with customers who stop by his stand. “I bring my product directly to the people,” he said. “I like the old-fashioned, face-to-face way of doing things.” He uses the markets to educate customers, too. His hogs, cattle and chickens pasture on grass. They are not treated with antibiotics or growth hormones. And, he’s quick to note, “My sausages are all pork, no water.”
Hinkebein offers several varieties of sausage links, from mild and sweet to hot. “I’ve got three breakfast sausages: a traditional sage, an Amish-style sausage with a salt-and-pepper base and one sausage flavored sweet with maple syrup.” He also churns out spicy sausages: Cajun, andouille and chorizo. For moderately inclined tastes, he sells mild Italian, bratwurst and classic garlic links. New recipes in development include a Louisiana-style boudin pork sausage with rice and onions, a hot Italian salsiccia and a traditional liverwurst. He currently offers only pork sausages, but early next year he’ll add all-beef summer sausages as well. They’ll be available in four flavors: regular, cheese, honey and jalapeño pepper.
The sausages’ unique tastes are partially the result of the custom spice mixes Hinkebein develops with help from food technologist Lisa Bromley at McCarthy Spice and Blends in University City. McCarthy serves smaller food producers who use way more than a pinch but much less than a 2,000-pound pallet load. “Customers send recipes, or we work to blend to the customer’s taste,” Bromley said. Hinkebein added that the expertise Bromley provides allows him to experiment with flavors.
Hinkebein bought the 37 acres he named Hinkebein Hills Farm in 1989. Today, his farm and his processing plant are both family-run affairs. Sister Becky helps out at the markets as well as at the processing plant, brother Ralph works at Hinkebein Hills and raises hogs on his own acreage as well, and his aunts will work the farm store when it opens in late fall. Hinkebein wants people to stop by the farm, see how he raises his animals and visit his new store.
But you won’t have to drive to Cape Girardeau for holiday sausages. Visit Hinkebein at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market’s winter location, in St. Joh’s Episcopal Church on Arsenal Street, the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon. Hinkebein will also set up at the Maplewood Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market Dec. 16 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the toasty-warm Crown Room at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood; after the new year, the market switches to the last Saturday of the month. He’ll not only have his sausages, but pork tenderloins, pork chops, beef roasts and other cuts as well.
Cooking fresh sausages is easy. Grilled, the large links take about 30 minutes over a medium-hot fire. On the stovetop, steam the sausages for about five minutes in a covered frying pan filled with a half-inch of cold water, then pan-fry them until they’re browned. At this point, they’re ready to serve or to add to your favorite stews, gumbos, red beans or soups. If you’ll be using them in baked cassoulets and colcannon stews, prick the sausages with a fork and bake them at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes before adding them to the other ingredients.
For those who’d like to give sausage-making a try, here’s a St. Louis favorite: Turkey-Apple Breakfast Sausage from Duff’s brunch menu. Brunch chef Matthew Voss said, “We tried a lot of combinations before we came up with this recipe. It’s a good balance of salt, sharp and sweet.”
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2006.