A Sausage for All Seasons

Paul’s Italian Market 623 Garfield St. Eveleth, Minn. 55734 (218) 744-1244 Billed after delivery. Postage and handling extra. Most people know Eveleth, Minn., as the home of the Hockey Hall of Fame. But to many of those who live there, the most important institution in town is Paul’s Italian Market (formerly known as Parlanti/Coldagelli), a small family business that’s been selling quality meats and Italian specialty foods for the past 80 years.

Current owner Paul Nemanick bought the business in 1981 and changed nothing but the name. Nemanick, who runs the business with his wife and mother, continues to make sausages the way they’ve been made since the turn of the century--slowly, with no fillers or preservatives.

Sausage is seasonal in this tiny northern town. The last time I called to place an order, it was peak deer-hunting season and Nemanick was just too busy packaging venison to do any sausage making. But he said if I wanted to wait a week, he would gladly make me a batch of porchetta-- a juicy pork sausage heavily seasoned with herbs and spices and rich with the flavors of garlic and fennel. Nemanick also makes excellent hot Italian sausage containing just the right amount of pepper, and his Polish sausages cannot be beat.

Porchetta is $2.69 a pound, the hot Italian sausages are $2.79 a pound, and Polish sausages cost $2.89 a pound. There’s a handling charge of $3 per order. Postage is expensive--sausages are sent second-day air, which costs about $7 for five pounds. But the sausages freeze well, so it’s worth ordering several pounds at once.