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Straight To The Source - Zenner's in Willamette Week
Friday, July 9, 2010published June 30th, 2010 in Willamette Week - see the original here
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In the era of celebrity chefdom, it’s good to look beyond the table to see who’s raising the livestock, crafting the cheese, harvesting the fruit, brewing the beer and distilling the spirits that make our menus so special. Local writer Liz Crain’s new book, Food Lover’s Guide to Portland (Sasquatch Books, July 1, 2010), is about these people—PDX food/drink producers, distillers, bakers, coffee roasters, chocolatiers and more. While researching her book throughout 2009, Crain (who has written food articles for WW in the past) compiled far more personal interviews than she had room for. So she shared some notes on a few of Portland’s favorite food and drink folks with usbefore her book launches Thursday. —WW editors
DAN WEDIN, Zenner’s Quality Sausage & Smoked Meats chief sausage cook, sales/marketing director
What: Zenner’s tasty, mostly natural casings (pork and lamb intestines), sausages and smoked meats are wholesaled to restaurants and markets in Oregon and throughout the West Coast.
Straight from the source: “ We’re a micro-sausagery; we’re like Hair of the Dog [Brewery]. Our sausage batches are from 130 to 240 pounds as opposed to what we’re up against—10,000-pound batches that no hands ever touch.”
Get some: At Helser’s, Rheinlander, Original Hotcake House, PGE Park, the Rose Quarter, a lot of local food carts, Sheridan Fruit Company, Phil’s Uptown Meat Market, Zupan’s Markets, Market of Choice and Cash & Carry.
published June 30th, 2010 in Willamette Week - see the original here
Reader Comments (4)
How did Dan learn to be a "chief sausage cook" ? I too want to become one.
Why did my question regarding hairnets get deleted with no answer, I was just curious.
Why do you accept comments then delete them ?
I only asked why Dan was not wearing a hair net
That title's a bit ambiguous, wannabe. Actually, I'm the chief cook meaning I take our finished sausage and cook them up for staff, customers and vendors. I try to bring the sausage, fresh or cooked, to their peak of flavor and texture. Cooking sausage is an art but in a nutshell DO NOT OVERCOOK. And start with a great product like Zenner's!
Actually, I was wearing a hairnet until the photographer decided to shoot me, then I chicken sausaged out! We always wear hairnets in production areas here at Zenner's. We have a USDA inspector on duty during all production hours, too. We spare no expense to insure that our sausage are the best they can be. And in the words of George Zenner, "To produce the best one must start with the best ingredients."