The Good Food Foundation, San Francisco, exists to connect and leverage passionate and engaged players in the food system who are creating “responsible food” to reform the American food culture. The Foundation hosted a Good Food Mercantile on June 29, in Brooklyn, New York, to connect these US food manufacturers with the community of retailers that value such products. The expo included a number of charcuterie manufacturers.

Brooklyn, New York-based The Meat Hook butchery is entering the retail marketplace with a line of sausages made using 100 percent grass-fed and finished beef and 100 percent pasture-raised pork and poultry from local, sustainable, small family farms. The line debuted with bratwursts, hot dogs and Italian sausages.

Two products that will soon be added to the lineup include serrano cheddar sausage, which is an ode to the Texas red hot. It features hickory-smoked pork sausage with fresh serrano peppers, cheddar cheese and secret spices. The butchery’s most popular sausage — Long Dong Bud — will also soon be available in retail packs. This pork-based sausage contains pepper jack cheese, roasted jalapeños and Texas Pete hot sauce.

The Country Cat is a Portland, Oregon-based restaurant committed to whole animal butchery using antibiotic-free and humanely raised Pacific Northwest pork and beef. At the Good Food Mercantile, the husband and wife owners showcased how they take a craft butcher chef approach to making hickory smoked uncured bacon, fresh pork sausage and beef jerky. These three products are now available to the retail sector.

The owners are particularly proud of their uncured bacon, which is made from very lean Berkshire/Duroc crossbred pigs farmed only about 45 miles outside of Portland. The duo uses a proprietary spice blend that embodies the spirit of the heartland and the piney-ness of the Pacific Northwest, producing a bacon that is salty, sweet, herbaceous, with a hint of juniper and a punch of hickory smoke. The dry rub seasoning includes celery powder for a natural cure.