Farmers Market: Smoked meat
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BY MICHAEL McHALE/Lincoln Journal Star
It all begins inside a small, brick oven.
That's where the meat sits, and the smoke rises. Hours later, the homemade seasoning goes in.
Eventually the buffet of sausage and jerky makes its way to the market.
Frank's Smokehouse may be old-fashioned, but it has enjoyed plenty of success.
The family-run store in Wilber has been selling homemade meat for more than four decades. And for the past few years, it has been bringing its supply to the Haymarket Farmers Market.
"There's no liquid smoke or artificial seasoning in our meat," said Willis Luedke, who works at Frank Smokehouse. “We use all natural smoke, natural peppers, things like that."
Luedke is part of a long family tradition at the smokehouse. Frank Havel bought the meat store in Wilber in 1966, and after stamping his name on the business, he started writing his own recipes and cooking his own products.
Today his son, Scott, runs the show. And Luedke — Scott's father-in-law — helps any way he can.
They have plenty to do. The store in Wilber is open seven days a week, and it sells everything from linked bologna to country-style sausage to teriyaki beef jerky. The meat is generally priced at $14.99 per pound.
On Wednesdays the family starts making extra food for the farmers market. They cook more than 35 types of sausages in all, along with bacon, ham and even smoked deer.
It's all done using the brick smokehouse, a 4-foot-by-4-foot square in the back room of the store.
The smoke is authentic, and the taste is consistent.
"A lot of people use liquid smoke and a dehydrator," Luedke said. "But that dries out the meat too much."
And artificial techniques lead to artificial flavors, he said. Frank's Smokehouse, on the other hand, uses white hickory sawdust to fuel the smoke for everything it cooks.
But different products still have different tastes, at least to a certain degree. The owners take pride in their variety of homemade seasonings, and they generally keep their recipes a secret.
"I couldn't even tell you what various seasonings are in each product," Luedke said.
Not everything is kept undercover. Nobody is hiding the reason the beef jerky is packaged in long, thick slabs: "That way it stays moist and easy to chew," Luedke said.
And customers keep coming back for more. As long as that happens, the jerky will stay the same.
And so will the brick smokehouse and white hickory sawdust, along with the family that has a tight grip on the business.
After all, there's no reason to tweak success.
"I'm looking forward to a lot more days here," Luedke said.
Reach Michael McHale at 473-7254 or mmchale@journalstar.com
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