Butcher’s Guide
How to Cook Summer Sausage
Short answer: you don’t have to. Long answer: a hot skillet changes everything.
Stittsworth Meats · Bemidji, MN · Butcher shop since 1940
Every week somebody at the counter asks it quietly, like it’s a dumb question: “Do I have to cook this?” It’s not a dumb question — and the answer is no. Summer sausage is fully cooked when it comes out of the smokehouse. Cured, smoked over real hardwood, done. Slice it cold and eat it. That’s the whole assignment.
But “ready to eat” and “as good as it gets” aren’t the same thing. Heat wakes the fat up and pushes the smoke back out of the meat. Four ways to do it, ranked by effort.
Four Ways
Cold to grilled, zero to five minutes of work.
Cold, sliced
0 minStraight from the wrapper. ⅛–¼ inch slices, sharp knife, slight angle for bigger rounds. This is how most of Minnesota eats it.
Best for: Charcuterie boards, cabin coolers, deer stands, lunch boxes.
Pan-fried
10 min¼-inch slices in a dry skillet, medium heat, 2 minutes a side until the edges brown and cup like good pepperoni. No oil — it brings its own.
Best for: Eggs and hash browns, breakfast sandwiches, grilled cheese upgrade.
Baked whole
20 minWhole or half chub, 300°F oven, 15–20 minutes until warmed through and the surface glistens. Slice at the table.
Best for: Holiday spreads — warm centerpiece next to the cheese board.
Grilled
5 minThick ½-inch slices, hot grate, 1–2 minutes a side for grill marks. Watch it — the sugars and fat can flare.
Best for: Tailgates. Burger-adjacent duty on a bun with mustard and pickles.
Knife Work
Slice thickness is the whole game.
⅛ inch for crackers — thin enough to fold, thick enough to taste. ¼ inch for frying — the slice needs mass to crisp without drying. ½ inch for the grill — anything thinner falls through or overcooks before it marks.
Cut on a slight bias when the sausage is going on a board: the oval slices look intentional and give more surface for the cheese to ride on. And keep the casing on until you slice — it’s protecting the sausage from drying out.
Keeping It
Why it’s called summer sausage in the first place.
The style was built to survive summer before refrigerators — cured, smoked, and dried until it kept on a shelf. That heritage still pays: an unopened chub rides fine in a cabin cupboard, a boat cooler that went warm, or a hunting pack. (Check your label — our full history of the style is in the summer sausage guide.)
Once you cut it, the clock starts: wrap the cut end, refrigerate, and finish it within about three weeks. It also freezes clean for three months if the chub was a Costco-sized ambition.
From Our Smokehouse
Start with sausage worth slicing.
Ours is made in Bemidji the way it’s been made since 1940 — real beef, real hardwood smoke, a short ingredient list you can read out loud.
FAQ
Asked at the counter, answered here.
Do you have to cook summer sausage?
No. It's fully cooked in the smokehouse. Cold and sliced is the traditional way to eat it.
Can you fry summer sausage?
Absolutely — ¼-inch slices, dry skillet, medium heat, 2 minutes a side. The edges crisp and cup. It's the best breakfast meat you're not using.
How long does it last after opening?
About three weeks refrigerated with the cut end wrapped. Unopened shelf-stable chubs keep at room temp — check your label.
What goes with it?
Sharp cheddar, stone-ground mustard, plain crackers, pickles. For the full spread, see our charcuterie board guide below.
Next step
Summer sausage, smoked in Bemidji.
Fully cooked in the Bemidji smokehouse. Ready for the skillet.
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