Local Flavors: This mecca for meat lovers is better than ever

Paso Meat and Sausage Co. processes custom orders from state-of-art Riverside Drive facility

By Katy Budge

PHOTO BY KATY BUDGE

Jim Fogle of Paso Meat and Sausage Co. in Paso Robles.

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Paso Meat and Sausage Co., at 3450 Riverside Ave. in Paso Robles, is open from 7:30 a. m. to 6:30 p. m. Monday through Saturday. For special orders or more information, call 239-2199; additional product information is also available at www.pasomeat.net . Try this hearty tomato basil soup recipe

Tomato Basil Soup is a super-easy crock pot recipe developed by Manager Jim Fogle. It uses Paso Meat & Sausage Co.’s Basil Garlic Sausage — one of the more than 50 varieties of sausage handmade and cured at the new Paso Robles facility.

The tomatoes can be purchased in most grocery stores, but if you can’t find them, Fogle noted that you can just make your own version with sun-dried tomatoes.

TOMATO BASIL SOUP

• 2 pounds Paso Meat & Sausage

Co.’s Basil Garlic Sausage

• 4 cups rice, cooked

• 3 cups seasoned dried tomatoes in olive oil with basil

• 1 cup minced garlic

• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped • 2 tablespoons salt

• 2 tablespoons black pepper

• 1 tablespoon oregano

• 2 6-ounce cans tomato paste

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot, and cook on high for 2 hours.

Turn crock pot temperature down, and serve soup hot.

—Katy Budge

Fans of the former Ralph’s Meats will be happy to know that its new incarnation —Paso Meat and Sausage Co. — is the same, but a cut above.

What definitely hasn’t changed is the company’s approach to high quality, custom meat processing.

As Manager Jim Fogle explained, “we want to offer a steak that tastes good, is marbled with a good consistency of fat and comes off the grill really nicely.”

To provide that, owner Tom Dorsey and his staff obtain Nebraska corn-fed beef of choice grade or above, and then age it on site for about 30 days before hand-cutting the meat.

Fogle also noted that “we do all of our own curing and smoking for the sausages and the maple sugar-cured hams and bacon.”

New building

All this takes place in Paso Meat and Sausage’s brand new building at the north end of Riverside Drive in Paso Robles.

The state-of-the-art facility was built not only to exacting USDA specifications, but also to a veritable wish list of modern design features. The entire processing flow moves in only one direction to increase efficiency and to prevent cross contamination, and separate rooms are placed accordingly for each operation, be it aging, cutting, curing or storing.

Customer service

In addition to the meat selection available in the on-site retail area, Fogle prefers “to work one-on-one with people. Tell me what you want and let me cut exactly what you want.”

While waiting for your custom order, you can browse the lunch menu of freshly made sandwiches, soups and chili, or peruse the wide assortment of condiments, such as Paso Meat and Sausage’s own “North County” line of sauces and seasonings.

“We’re trying to make this place as user-friendly as possible,” said Fogle, adding that “we heavily support the fairs and all the 4Hs and FFAs … whatever we can do to help.”

Katy Budge is a freelance writer from Atascadero. If you have a favorite “Local Flavor” you’d like to see featured, e-mail your suggestions to ktbudge@sbcglobal.net .