Strasburg Meats

Fall 2007

          

          

        Most Saturdays I drive from my house in North Canton to 14th and Whipple to buy my meat and poultry for the week at Strasburg Meats.  Worth the trip?  Absolutely.

        When I walk in the door, I’m always greeted by Don or Barbara Fain, the owners, or one of their well-informed and helpful staff.  Even though I usually arrive with a list in hand, I like to saunter down the length of the store and survey the offerings displayed in long glass cases.  First is choice beef: a variety of steaks--strips, Delmonico steaks, and more--tenderloin, chuck roasts, stew meat, 75% and 85% lean ground beef, coarse ground beef for chili, ground round, and natural-fed ground beef.

        In the pork case there are ribs, western ribs, three different types of pork chops, gorgeous pork loins and pork butt roasts.  The sausage case is next, displaying Don’s house-made sausages: Italian (hot, medium hot, and sweet), chorizo, country pork sausage, knockwurst, kolbasi, veal bratwurst, and marvelous buffalo sausage moistened with olive oil.  After that is a case filled with house-made cold cuts, salads made by Barb, including her famous potato salad (I can’t leave the store without some of that), and eggs from cage-free chickens.

        Next is what I think of as “the smoked case,” displaying bacon hand-cut from old-fashioned slabs, Don’s prize-winning (first in the state of Ohio!) hickory-smoked, sugar-cured ham, and assorted other smoked delicacies, including meaty ham hocks for my fall bean soup.  Finally there’s the chicken in a covered cold case: a wide selection, from whole roasting chickens to chicken patties,  all natural (all vegetarian grain fed, no antibiotics, no hormones) and sourced from Gerber’s in Holmes County.

        The most remarkable thing about all this bounty is that it’s produced the old-fashioned way.  In his 30th year in business, Don still buys hanging beef and paper-wrapped pork that he and his staff cut themselves.  All the sausages and ground beef are made from scratch on the premises.  Nearly everything except the buffalo, which comes from South Dakota, is sourced locally from trusted suppliers to insure quality and freshness.

This high quality does not come at inflated prices.  Because Don and his staff cut and process the meat in house, they can control costs and pass that savings along to customers.  Strasburg Meats also offers value boxes, which contain large quantities of their products at discounted prices, and they can custom cut quarters of beef for your freezer with a considerable savings per pound.

One of the best reasons for making the trip to Strasburg Meats is the service.  Every person who has waited on me there has been courteous, helpful, and friendly, and every time I ask a question, I learn something new.  Don, Barb, and their staff are happy to give cooking suggestions and advice.  After numerous requests for her recipes, Barb has compiled a cookbook that is available at the store for $5.00.  They are also happy to take special orders, and if they don’t have something you want, they can usually get it for you in two days.

For the holidays, Don recommends his hams, crown roast of pork, filet mignons, and chateaubriand, all of which can be hand-cut to your specifications.  Starting now, in October, Strasburg Meats will take orders for fresh, locally sourced, all natural turkeys for Thanksgiving.  They’re the best birds I’ve ever cooked on turkey day.

You can find Strasburg Meats in Meyers Lake Plaza, at 1410 Whipple Avenue North west.  Their phone number is 330-477-9090; store hours are Monday through Friday 9:00-6:00 and Saturday 9:00-5:00.