Then the students learn how to twist the stuffed casings into sausages and how to store them. Along the way, they’ve also learned about binding agents and other additives; how to take care of the equipment; and safe working temperatures for the product. The class ends at about 2:30 to 3 p.m.
Sausage-making is a lot of fun; take it from this occasional sausage hobbyist. Elia’s classes run every couple of weeks, and are currently booked through the end of the month. You can fill out an application online, but it’s best to call (845) 691-9312 to schedule. The cost for a workshop is $250.
Elia’s Meat Market sells a rotating selection of 32 homemade sausage varieties (including a roster of secret-recipe German ones taught to Elia by a mentor). Other popular sausages include: a chicken sausage with three cheeses: parmesan, Romano and Asiago; and the broccoli rabe, for which the greens are gently sautéed in garlic and olive oil to take the edge off any bitterness, and folded with ground pork and parmesan cheese. “It’s one of our biggest movers,” says Elia.
Elia’s Meat Market is a full-service, old-fashioned butcher shop, with everything fabricated on-site, that sells holiday meats from turkey to a Frenched rack of American lamb. Elia makes about 30 turduckens a year (for the uninitiated, that’s a labor-intensive creation of boned chicken stuffed into boned duck stuffed into boned turkey). Elia’s is a family operation, with wife Toni and daughters Adrienne and Kaylee helping out in the shop.
A recent perusal of the display cases offered up pastrami, maple-smoked slab bacon, Daisy ham and fresh ham. Wild game processing is available. You’ll also find all-beef hot dogs, smoked and fresh kielbasa, liverwurst, bratwurst, weisswurst and bockwurst, a traditional Easter sausage dubbed “Lenten bologna.” The array of ready-to-cook meats in the display case, varies day-to-day and week-to-week, and is available for shipping.
If you can’t wait to get it home and cook: A full roster of barbecued specialties that have been slow-smoked over a variety of hardwoods is available to take out or eat in the shop. A window to the street streamlines accessibility. I sampled some heavenly hickory-smoked pulled pork in a sauce that was a perfect balance of tangy and sweet (a sandwich is $6), and some luscious sweet-oak-smoked brisket (a sandwich is $7). Elia learned to barbecue in Texas and also offers St. Louis-style ribs in various sizes ($6 for a three-rib teaser, $12 for a half-rack and $20 for a full rack), beef short ribs and samplers (for two: $12 and for four: $29). When he can get it, Elia uses cherrywood for the pulled pork, and sometimes the easier-to-find oak. His ribs won People’s Choice in 2006 at the Taste of New Paltz, and in 2011 a Gold Medal at the Ginsberg Taste Exposure and Culinary Challenge in Albany. Elia is hoping to start a class to share his barbecue secrets as well.
As if teaching people how to make sausage, guiding Culinary Institute of America students in the arts of meat fabrication and sausage-making and manning a full butcher shop weren’t enough, Elia also caters events, including barbecues and pig roasts. He offers an optional mozzarella bar, with fresh mozzarella made on-site that Elia pulls dramatically into long strings then layers with prosciutto.
Elia’s Meat Market is located in the center of the hamlet of Highland, at 85 Vineyard Avenue right off Route 9W. The shop is open Fridays from oon to 8 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on the shop, catering and classes, call (845) 691-9312, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.eliasmeatmarket.com.
Read more about local cuisine and learn about new restaurants on Ulster Publishing’s dinehudsonvalley.com or hudsonvalleyalmanacweekly.com.
