Something Old is New Again. Proper Sausages.

(Adjustments made, per comment from Freddy Kaufmann.)


When I was in college in the Boston area, and for years after that, there was a uniquely charming feature of the North End.  This had been for years, and largely still is, the Italian section.  When I worked in the local clinic, I took Italian lessons at night school, because some of the North End residents, who had lived there for decades, did not speak English.  The North End, like few neighborhoods in this country any more, had various shops that sold only produce, or meat, or baked goods, or deli offerings.  The meat markets--old time butcher shops--had poultry and rabbits dressed and hanging in the windows, and trays of the various meats.  These were not pre-weighed, wrapped, and priced, like they are in Publix.  You saw what you wanted and negotiated to get the right piece or amount.  And the floors had sawdust on them.  Probably none of this meets hygiene codes for food handlers now, but that's how it was then and there.  It was a distinctly European model.

You rarely see butcher shops any more.  Part of the reason is that so many fewer people eat meat, or at least not as much as Americans used to.  And so many fewer establishments of many kinds specialize.  The closest we come now is farmers' market stores, which have actually made a kind of resurgence, with the focus on produce and organics.  Laurenzo's has a produce store.  Aaron's produce is about two blocks away.  And there are the CSA's, one of which is distributed by a BP resident on 118th Street, and another of which operates in Little Haiti.  Also, there are several pop-up farmers' markets around.  One of them happens on Thursdays in front of MOCA.  It started as a very well-represented bazaar, but it has dwindled, mainly through lack of enthusiasm of the possible clientele.  It was at that market that I met Freddy and Danielle Kaufmann, the owners of Proper Sausages.  Do you want to guess what they sell?

Freddy and Danielle met in a restaurant.  Freddy was in the kitchen, and Danielle ran the dining room.  But being tied to the restaurant business didn't suit either of them, so they found their way into the business of devising recipes, especially for sausages.

Two things distinguish Proper Sausages.  One is that Freddy and Danielle are brilliant chefs.  I know, "brilliant chefs," right?  Like what chef isn't claimed to be "brilliant" these days?  Well really, they are.  I know, because I've eaten what they cook.  They used to serve it for lunch at the farmers' market.  Sausage sandwiches.  If you didn't have one, you don't know.  You can take my word for it or not.  And I've bought their sausages to take home and cook for myself.  They have several sausage recipes, including The Proper, The Dub, Whisky Cherry Venison Sausage, one with stout beer, one with harissa, one with figs and cheese, and various other flavors, each with its own recipe, concocted by Freddy and Danielle.

The other distinguishing characteristic of their sausages is that they do not get their pork from Publix.  Or Costco.  Or a restaurant food supply company like Sysco.  They get Berkshire pork from a farm in Iowa.  These are pigs that live the lives pigs should live, roam freely, and eat the wonderful delicacies pigs love to eat.  The good news is that you can definitely tell the difference in the taste.  The bad news, for the pigs, is how you know.  Either deal with it, or don't.

Anyway, Freddy and Danielle were itinerant butchers until they got the idea to go old school.  So they opened an old fashioned butcher shop, sans saw dust, in the 9700 block of NE 2nd Avenue in Miami Shores.  It's on the west side of the street.  They sell their sausages, of course, but they also sell whole cuts of pork, as well as Florida Wagyu beef cuts.  Wagyu beef is to beef what Berkshire pork is to pork.  It does not taste the same.  We're talking about cattle that have lived the good life cows should live, though they didn't die of old age.  They were happy, and they ate as well as cattle were meant to eat.  I have other beef from grass fed, free-roaming cattle, and it's not as good.  Wagyu is different.  May I say, you have no idea.

I went to the actual store today for the first time (I'm embarrassed to say), and I got myself dinner of a Wagyu hamburger and a lamb hamburger.  Each was specially seasoned, per Freddy and Danielle.  Freddy also gave me two rolls: the very same rolls used by Dan Serfer of The Blue Collar (one of Freddy and Danielle's customers).  I very lightly broiled my dinner, as instructed by Freddy, and I was richly rewarded. Here's another bad news/good news dilemma: my two hamburgers were expensive.  They cost me $11 together.  But boy, were they worth it.  I wouldn't eat this way every day, but when I want to treat myself or someone else, you bet I would splurge.

Proper Sausages also sells a very small selection of wines and beers, some salads the Kaufmanns make (they had three-bean salad and rice salad today), and a tiny selection of other artisan foods, mostly provided by people Freddy and Danielle know.  But this establishment is largely a butcher shop, in the old style.  Proper Sausages is low key, but upscale.  You won't find meat like this anywhere else.

By the way, last year I wanted to make a dish with rabbit.  Freddy didn't have any, and he didn't have a connection with anyone to get any.  Now, he does.  He tells me he can get me rabbit, or any other meat I want.  (I wound up using what they sell frozen at Publix.  Or did I go to Markey's?  I can't remember.  Whatever it was was OK, but not the best rabbit I've had, and I wouldn't in future go anywhere but Proper Sausages.)  So if you're interested, and you don't see what you want, it appears you can request.  If Freddy or Danielle isn't there, Mike will be.  Enjoy.  Not to gild the lily, but these are very nice people as well as exceptional chefs.