Traditional sausage most often uses pork, beef or poultry as its primary ingredient. However, sausage makers will sometimes experiment with different species to offer a unique experience. Regulations and laws restrict some species from processing into meat for consumption, but species do exist that are allowed and even US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected.

Non-traditional species sausage makers produce their creations the same way they make traditional-protein sausage with the same machines and the same methods.

“The process is the same, I mean we’re running a Handtmann 608 and a ScottPec smoker, it’s just a different protein,” said Jamie Stewart, meat crafter at Tommy G’s in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Joe Jurgielewicz & Son LTD (JJS Duck) slaughters and processes duck to raw product and sends it out to a co-packer to be processed into their Peking Duck Bratwurst.

“We don’t have the equipment, but it’s something that we definitely are looking into,” said Joey Jurgielewicz III, head of business development at JJS Duck, Hamburg, Pa. “But when you look at us, we’re a raw plant, so mixing that with a lot of these other ingredients isn’t doable for us, using a co-packer minimizes risk.”

Ideation

Meat purveyors come up with new ideas for alternative protein sausage in a number of different ways, but most often it comes from hope of creating something unique, something that stands out. Whether it’s to jump start interest, win an award or create value, or sometimes utilizing an available resource, Tommy G’s and JJS Duck have seen success with their endeavors into exotic sausage.

The first time Stewart and Tom Gross, owner of Tommy G’s went to the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) Cured Meats Championships, they took one product to compete with but were more there to take in the lay of the land.

“We wanted to test the waters and see what it was all about, and by and large it was a lot of the same flavors from all over the country,” Stewart said. “I couldn’t tell you how many jalapeno cheddar snack sticks, jalapeno cheddar summer sausage, a lot of variations on recipes that go back to the same handful of the same ingredients. I wanted to bring something that we haven’t seen, and I hadn’t seen reindeer there, and when you say reindeer, they perk right up.”

Gross is quick to point out that he and Stewart have been counseled by giants in the industry since Tommy G’s opened on the fourth of July in 2021, people like Jon Frohling, former owner of Frohling Meats, Rapid City, SD; Rick Reams, owner of RJ’s Meats, Hudson, Wis.; and Jay Wenther, PhD, from Handtmann.

“We’ve had great mentorship, they’ve explained things,” Gross said. “We’re willing to look stupid and ask a ton of questions, so we get it right the first time. And Jamie [Stewart] has been invaluable in that communication. His expertise: When you stand in front of that suffer and in front of that mixer, and you live in that spice room, you get thousands of hours playing that game and then all of a sudden, you’re learning things on your own, and you see things.”

JJS Duck began offering its Peking Duck Sausage roughly five years ago after working with Washington, DC restaurateur, Chef Scott Drewno. JJS’s goal is always to sell more duck, and the company believed a sausage would target a specific audience not accustomed to the protein.

“We tried to get it into a form that people are used to cooking and also putting it into a weight that would be easier and more convenient too,” Joey Jurgielewicz said. “So you can grill it in your backyard, you can add it to a gumbo and you could have it while you’re watching a sporting event. Chef Scott had a stand at Capital One Arena, where the (NHL) Capitals play, and it would serve this at the Capitals’ games.”

The sausage’s flavor mimics that of Peking duck with the five spices used, served with a slice of cucumber and instead of ketchup, hoisin sauce. Since its inception, the uses of the sausage have evolved.

“Now it’s not just for the grill,” said Michael Jurgielewicz, business development and marketing at JJS Duck. “It can fit every single day part. People use it for breakfast sausage, for breakfast hash. It can be passed around as hors d’oeuvres at a wedding, or other events, with a slice of cucumber and hoisin sauce on a toothpick. It’s very versatile.”

Sausage supply

JJS duck produced approximately 25,000 sausage links last year, but said its co-packer has never told them it did not have the capacity to do whatever the duck producer and processor needed. The sausage sales have been consistent and continue to grow.

“I do see a lot of opportunity once this becomes available at retail and people will see that just as another option versus having that traditional bratwurst or hot dog or chicken sausage out there,” Joey Jurgielewicz said.

JJS has also seen an export business come to fruition.

“We did the America Food and Beverage show in September down in Miami,” Michael Jurgielewicz said. “It targets the Caribbean, Central and South America, and we sampled it and got a lot of interest. The sales went through our distributor in Miami, so I’m not sure exactly how much went out, but some did.”

JJS also has kosher sausage available on its website. Through a partnership with kosher facilities, the company offers both Italian sausage and cherry sausage as a natural alternative to pork.

JJS Ducks partners with a co-packer to make the company's various sausage products made with duck meat.

| Source: JJS Duck

While JJS has company farms and contract farmers to produce its ducks, Tommy G’s reindeer supply chain is not as robust. The meat comes from George Aguiar at Archipelago Farms, Fairbanks, Alaska. Aguiar chooses an animal from the herd, usually a young bull and takes it to a local abattoir for processing and is then sent to Tommy G’s. But the supply is limited, runs on Aguiar’s clock, and the meat is not cheap.

“By the time the meat makes it into our building, I’ve got $3,800 tied up in about 98 lbs of reindeer meat,” Gross said. “That’s $38 a lb before we’ve done anything.”

Because of the cost, Stewart usually uses 30 lbs to 50 lbs a run and packs into ¼-lb packages.

“People can pallet paying $20 for a bit of reindeer here in Alaska,” Stewart said. “Even if the price point were lower, we could probably move a lot more, but it’s what’s special about it. It is expensive and therefore it’s not run-of-the-mill. I mean, it’s small batches and when it’s gone, we make more. Right now, reindeer aren’t just hanging out on the street.”

Stewart added, “You’ve just got to make absolutely sure guys pay attention to the labeling because sending $80 per lb reindeer out the front door that is marked as regular cotto salami that we’re selling for $9.99 per lb isn’t good. Otherwise, you’re eating it to the tune of 800%.”

Source: Tommy G's Meat and Sausage

Championship choices

Tommy G’s reindeer sausage, known as Prancer’s Last Dance, contains at least 65% reindeer meat. The meat comes to the shop stamped inspected by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the company chooses to present it in its AAMP American Cured Meat Champion (ACMC) award-winning cotto salami. The product being federally inspected and containing 65% reindeer meat allows it to compete within the rule set of that competition and class.

“There’s another option in Anchorage that uses a hint of reindeer and a recipe that they’ve got,” Gross said. “They’ve got sausage with reindeer meat. We have reindeer sausage. Our product is over 65%.”

ACMC named Prancer’s Last Dance Grand National Champion in the Specialty Game Meats class in 2023. The main reason Stewart and Gross use their cotto salami recipe for the reindeer meat is because it allows the flavor of reindeer to come through in the purest way.

“There’s a lot of things going on this thing, but it’s probably one of the least masked expressions of that animal you could do to have it be something other than a cooked piece of meat,” Stewart said. “I didn’t want to bury it in a bunch of cheese and other adulterations. I want that animal to taste good. I want you to pop that reindeer in your mouth and say ‘Oh, that’s what reindeer tastes like.’

“It’s a good platform and our salami program is already pretty rock solid. I also consulted with John Frohling on what he thought the best application would be with that protein and he thought cotto would be a good avenue to take with that animal, so that’s what we did.”

Stewart said that when people come into Tommy G’s they’re often looking for something “Alaskan,” something they cannot get elsewhere.

“They come up and they look for something special and we’ve got North Pole, Alaska, which is 16 miles away, and there’s a big joint there called the Santa Claus House. They’ve got reindeer on a sleigh. They come in and we can’t give them moose, we can’t give them caribou, but these reindeer are domestic, so we have the chance to get it.”

Because of cost, Prancer’s Last Dance does not fly off the shelves, but for those that come into the shop looking for that unique and special product from an Alaskan shop, the reindeer cotto salami gets their attention.

“When they come in, they buy this stuff if we sample it,” Gross said. “When you cut that end off, when you sample that, people buy it.”