Happy National Meat Month!
As all our fans know, we proudly celebrate meat 24/7 here at Nolechek’s Meats. We take our role as Wisconsin’s Finest very seriously and offering Wisconsin’s best ham, bacon and sausage takes dedication. To wrap up a busy month, we want to take the time to share with everyone just how much product our awesome team crafts.
Venison
We accept boneless wild game year-round at Nolechek’s and make thousands of pounds of wild game sausage every year, including venison, elk, moose, and bear. However, from October through December we are so busy making our own product to sell in our retail, online, and through various wholesale channels, we don’t have time to make venison sausage. So, when January arrives, we move right in to making venison sausage. We offer approximately 40 varieties of venison sausage, which includes summer, snack sticks, fresh bratwurst, wieners and more! Our most popular items include summer sausage, natural casing wieners, and venison bacon…all made using the same family recipes and traditions as the products available in retail and online.
UPDATE: As of July 2021, Nolechek's is no longer processing custom sausage which includes, but is not limited to: Venison, elk, bear, antelope, non-inspected beef, pork. Please visit for more information please read our statement here.
- Summer Sausage: 3,821 lbs.
- Snack Sticks: 1,809 lbs.
- Venison Bacon: 400 lbs.
- Fresh Sausage: 490 lbs.
- Wieners: 565 lbs.
- Polish Sausage: 375 lbs.
- Bologna: 100 lbs.
- Venison Jerky: 150 lbs.
- Venison Hamburger: 500 lbs.
TOTAL: 8,210 lbs.
As if we didn’t make enough venison product, we were also busy crafting product for retail, online, and wholesale; stocking up after the Holiday rush!
Our first task was to get all of our lunch meat options in stock and we made 800 pounds of mustard seed salami, bologna, Krakow, New England, and boneless ham.
You wouldn’t think with winter in Wisconsin fresh bratwurst would be a hot ticket item, but people in the Midwest are dedicated to grilling and we stuffed 850 pounds of the best Wisconsin bratwurst you’ll find. This includes a fan favorite that features Marieke Gouda Smoked Gouda, pictured below.
Nolechek’s fresh side pork is a favorite among local customers. Why? It’s simple, really. We start with the highest quality fresh pork belly as we do for our bacon. When you start with quality product, there’s not much else to do, except fry it up with your favorite seasoning and enjoy! After slicing 450 pounds of fresh side pork, there is plenty to go around!
Another fresh product that customers can’t get enough of are all pork breakfast links. Nolechek’s breakfast links are the perfect blend of seasonings with just the right amount of sage. The best part of making breakfast links is frying up a batch to make sure they meet our standards! 200 pounds of these perfect links will last for about a month and they’ll be back on the production schedule!
Our final production totals include fresh product available for retail purchase only. These items are sold in 1 pound bulk tubes. Chorizo is a Mexican-style fresh sausage with vinegar and is the best in tacos; our Italian sausage can’t be beat in your favorite Italian dish; and who doesn’t love a hand-pattied burger right off the grill! Our customers choose these products because of their quality, leanness, and amazing flavor!
- 600 pounds of ground pork, Chorizo, Italian and breakfast sausage
- 450 pounds of ground round and ground chuck
Wieners and bologna round out our ready-to-eat products for the month of January. After making 450 pounds of wieners and 225 pounds of bologna, our customers will have plenty of options!
Cold smoked pork shoulder is a specialty product that we craft for our favorite local restaurant, Sconni’s. Located in Wausau, WI, Sconni’s features many of Nolechek’s products on their menu. They provide us with their secret blend of spices and we do the rubbing and cold smoking. This month we smoked 250 pounds for them and you can try it for yourself, featured on their Hawaiian Carnitas, which are tacos with pineapple pico, poblano crema and cilantro. Is your mouth watering yet?
Rubbed and ready for smoking!
And last, but certainly not least…Nolechek’s Hickory Smoked Honey Cured Bacon. Here are the numbers:
- Traditional Bacon: 1,900 pounds
- Beef Bacon: 150 pounds
Natural Uncured Bacon: 555 pounds
Yes. That’s 2,605 pounds of bacon!
Bacon ready for the smokehouse
Slab bacon ready for slicing
Beef bacon ready for packaging
Nolechek’s Natural Uncured Bacon Pieces are featured in Marieke Gouda Bacon Gouda and Carr Valley Bacon Bread Cheese. Only the highest quality bacon for the highest quality cheese! We cooked 555 pounds of natural uncured bacon, all in a day’s work!
So, were you keeping track? We’ll save you the time and tally up the totals.
- Lunchmeat: 800 lbs.
- Fresh Bratwurst: 850 lbs.
- Side Pork: 450 lbs.
- Breakfast Links: 200 lbs.
- 1# Bulk Product: 1,050 lbs.
- Wieners: 450 lbs.
- Bologna: 225 lbs.
- Smoked Pork Butts: 250 lbs.
- Bacon: 2,605 lbs.
GRAND TOTAL: 15,090 POUNDS
When all is said and done our amazing team of nine individuals cut, chopped, ground, stuffed, smoked, cured, tumbled, wrapped, and put up 15,090 pounds of award-winning Nolechek’s product. Yes. 15,090 pounds. And when we say our amazing team, we mean it. Our team shows up every day and works together to achieve more than we ask of them and we have a good time doing it! We are thankful and humbled beyond measure to share our story and give credit where credit is due…to our team who believes in what they do and crafts a product that is second to none and deserves the title of Wisconsin’s Finest.
