In another dusty little spot, less than 350 miles away from Winterpast, sits a place that creates Christmas dinner for hundreds and hundreds of Volga German families. Renna’s Meats. It really isn’t Christmas without German sausage made from THE recipe, generations old.
It’s a very long history lesson to tell how German farmers moved to the Volga River region of Russia to farm land grants beginning in 1763. My ancestors took that offer, picked up and moved to Russia. There, they thrived over the years enjoying political and religious freedoms. Sadly, by 1900, life became unbearable under Stalin’s regime. Families packed up what they could carry and immigrated to the United States of America.
My maternal Great-Grandparents were in that group. The Schwabenland’s and the Goeringer’s. They walked for miles and miles through the harshest situations. Thousands of travelers died from terrible diseases, slowing families as they took care of the ill, sick, and dying. Of course, babies were born along the way, as well. Once near a port, they boarded ships bound for Ellis Island and freedom. They did this in hope of a rich life in the United States of America. They had faith in a dream. Not able to bring much, they carried the simple recipe for sausage in their hearts all the way to the Central Valley of California.
When Christmas came around each year, there was one thing that would cause the elders to get their tinsel in a tangle. It wasn’t presents. It wasn’t caroling. Not the Christmas tree or shiny decorations. It was the SAUSAGE. Would the sausage be as good as in past years? Where did each family buy their sausage? Did the butcher make enough? All these questions would swirl around the holidays. It was always about the sausage.
As far as I know, there were at least three places to buy THE sausage. Recipes varied slightly, causing family groups to prefer one over the other. Each store had loyal customers that would never, ever think of eating any other type of sausage, unless to be polite, of course. Nope. Each group was loyal to their own butcher. Hundreds of town’s people bought their sausage from a man named Ohlberg. My family bought their sausage from a little country market owned by the Cheeseman and Steitz families.
Over the years, with varied dishes to serve on Christmas day, the sausage remained the centerpiece. It just couldn’t be Christmas without German Sausage. Not just any German Sausage, either. It needed to be as close to the original taste as possible.
Today, it’s possible to get all types of foods delivered to your doorstep. Through the wonders of 2nd Day Air, 4 lbs. of German sausage will be delivered to my doorstep. Two pounds of fresh, two pounds of smoked, with the delivery costing more than the sausage.
Through marriage, the Ohlberg and Renna families became entertwined. Finally, Mr. Ohlberg died at a very old age. Today, Renna’s Meat Market supplies German Sausage for the San Joaquin Valley of California and the world.
The sausage is made from the a mixture of pork and beef. It’s seasoned with garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and secret ingredients I wouldn’t begin to know. This deliciousness is one of the featured items at Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings, birthdays, and funerals of Volga German descendants. It’s not a party unless there is sausage. The RIGHT sausage.
If you are lucky enough to order some for your holiday, there are several ways to prepare it. I prefer to cook mine on an electric skillet in a bed of carnalized onions. It usually takes about 30 minutes on medium heat to cook it through. Cut into short lengths, it tastes great wrapped in a fresh baked roll. The kind my Grammie used to make. A slice of bread will also do nicely. You can also BBQ or steam your sausage until any trace of pink color is gone.
With the sausage on it’s way, I’ll be looking through my old family cookbooks to find other recipes from the past. I wish I’d paid more attention to the church women. They cooked amazing feasts from recipes of the past.
Whatever you do today, take some time to think of your own childhood Christmas’s. What made everything so magical? I bet it had a lot to do with special foods. Look through your collection of old recipes and make them new again. Let me know if you like the sausage. Again, it’s nothing you’ll find at Raley’s. This is a secret concoction straight out of Mr. Ohlberg’s recipe files. And HE knew sausage.
More tomorrow.