Patak Meats - The Sausage Chalet

There are a lot of great things you can say about living in Atlanta.  We've got great weather, great sports teams, great arts and culture, and great restaurants.  However, I never expected that I'd would say we have great salami.  Hidden out in Austell, GA (a burb of ATL) is Patak Meats.  Situated in the shadow of the massive gas reservoir tanks of the Colonial Pipeline, Patak's surroundings would never suggest sausage heaven.  But I'm telling you, it's as if the pigs created this place themselves in their own honor.  A quick review of Patak's price list reveals 79 different house-made products.  I've made three trips to Patak to date and put a substantial dent in that price list.  Everything I've tried has been great. 

Patak is primarily a wholesale operation, but they have opened a storefront to vend to the public.   Thank goodness.  Their hours are normally limited to 9-5 on weekdays, but they do open on the first Saturday of every month.  My trips to Patak were concentrated around Christmas and the Super Bowl, so the lines were long enough to extend out the door and into the parking lot.   In talking to other fans of Patak, the lines are pretty much a normal situation.  The clientele is a pretty interesting mix of people, locals and out-of-staters, with a heavy trend toward people of Eastern European heritage. 

Patak's website indicates that their operation is powered by two Fessman smokers capable of producing up to 20,000 lbs. of product a day.  As well, their dry cured products are aged in a Travaglini Italian drying room.

 So far, I've managed to sample the Hungarian salami, Garlic salami, house salami, liverwurst, smoked liverwurst, wieners, bologna, bacon, bratwurst, corned beef, Canadian bacon, and regular bacon.  The liverwurst was a very interesting experience.  I've become accustomed to Boars Head style liverwurst, which is pretty dense in consistency.  Patak's liverwurst is much looser and creamy in texture.  It was fantastic.  The smoked liverwurst was similar, but smokey.  For some reason, it had a very short shelf life (3 or 4 days).  The wieners have a great taste and a really snappy casing (my kids hated them).  Bratwurst are very good grilled and served with peppers and onions.

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Let's talk about the bacon.  Sigh.  It is heaven.  Prior to being introduced to Patak, my gold standard for bacon was Alan Benton's Bacon.  Alan got me hooked on a dry cure bacon, as opposed to the supermarket standard wet cure.  But after sampling Patak's bacon, I realized Alan's bacon is over-smoked.  Cooking with Benton's bacon can be tricky because it's smokey flavor can quickly dominate a dish.  Patak manages to find a better balance with their smoke and cure.   Once you've switched over to dry cure bacon you'll never go back.  Gone is the watery texture and heavy nitrate flavor.  Patak's bacon has a really sublime smokey, porky quality.  As an added bonus, it renders a generous amount of fat, aka chef's gold.  Perhaps the greatest thing about Patak's bacon is the price - $2.79 a lb!  When I visit the Sausage Chalet, my standard order is 6 lbs. of bacon.  I then take it home, weigh it out into 1 lb. packages, and freeze it up.

  This is a photo of my Christmas order.  You are looking at roughly 13 lbs. of stuff, and I believe my final bill was only $31.   With  the economy being what it is these days, Patak represents an exceptional value from both a quality and price perspective.   If you are local to ATL, I strongly recommend a vist.  If you are out of state, I'd say it's worth giving these guys a call and see what you can arrange.  If you are in the industry, ask your IFC rep if they can hook you up.  Patak's products are widely available from a lot of different purveyors.

Comments

[Jim Cain]

Finchbird, don't be a hog-bird.. Hook me up with some of the 'wurst and some bacon next time you head there!

[Howard Richardson]

I now live in Santiago, Chile and really miss getting your products at the DeKalb Farmers Market. I am surprised they do not have Liverwurst here. With the large number of Germans and desendents they should have. Can you ship a box of your products here? Thanks, Howard Richardson