Northside Farmers Market
In addition to bratwurst and bacon bratwurst, Nicholas Bruns makes a southwestern turkey sausage, both mild and spicy Italian sausage, and, by special order, breakfast sausages.
The locally produced sausages of Hamann Charcuterie have up until now been the purview of Northsiders or other foragers savvy enough to be shopping the Northside Farmers' Market on Sunday mornings. Nicholas Bruns, maker of top-drawer sausages -- like the divinely spiced bratwurst that don't ooze grease when you bite into them -- has been selling since May of this year at the Northside Farmers' Market only, but is planning to open a shop at the Northside Town Center (a.k.a. Sherman Plaza) in the next couple of months.
Bruns, who classically trained in the culinary arts in Vancouver, calls sausage making "a kind of passion for me." After working in local restaurants for the last five years, he wanted a business of his own. The recipes are all his own, and he uses local organic meat, like pork from Bruns' favorite and top seller to date is his (are you sitting down, Wisconsin natives? Packer SuperFans?) bacon bratwurst (!), which is made with fresh herbs, shallots, garlic and, of course, bacon. His sausages have no chemicals, no sodium nitrate or other preservatives. And they contain less fat and less salt than an average store brand. In addition to bratwurst and bacon bratwurst, Bruns makes a southwestern turkey sausage, both mild and spicy Italian sausage, and, by special order, breakfast sausages. "They're more difficult to produce," says Bruns. Due to their smaller size, a different, "more fragile" casing is called for. To this point, Bruns' production has been limited by the fact that he rents a kitchen that's available only two times a week; his output is sold solely at the Northside Farmers Market. His new space will include shop space and his own kitchen; he plans to expand his product line, making and selling more cured meats, including bacon, country hams, and prosciutto. And the name Hamann Charcuterie? Hamann is a German family name, explains Bruns, his grandmother's maiden name. "Charcuterie" is the French name for a pork-specific sausage maker, although Bruns doesn't limit himself to pork. (His bratwurst contain beef.) Although few people know what a charcuterie is, Bruns likes the fact that it's "not a cutesy name. It's a serious name." And he likes to think that "in four or five years, people will know what it means. It will be good for business that it has a serious name." Besides, he reflects, "Wisconsin's a pretty good place to sell sausage."