New Year's Eve in Bozeman Without Cooking a Thing

Bozeman fills up on the last night of the year, and the people hosting are the ones who end up in the kitchen instead of the room where everything is happening. There is a better way to do it, and it starts about eight miles up the road in Belgrade.

We are a meat market with a smokehouse out back, so most of what we sell was built to sit out on a table and stay good for hours. No oven, no chafing dish, no one hovering over a tray. You put it on a board, you set it down, and you go talk to your friends.

What Holds Up on a Board

A spread that works all night has to survive being ignored. Hot food does not. It gets cold, it congeals, somebody has to carry it back to the kitchen and deal with it, and by eleven o'clock the host has spent more of the evening on cleanup than on conversation.

Cured and smoked meat has the opposite problem, which is to say it has no problem. It was preserved to last. Our summer sausage, salami, and jerky all come out of the smokehouse shelf stable, which means they hold their texture and flavor sitting at room temperature for as long as your party runs. Put them out at seven, forget about them, and they are still good when the countdown starts.

The rule we give people is to build a board around three things that taste different from each other. Something savory and firm to slice, something sweet to cut through it, and something salty to keep people picking. Add sharp cheese and a cracker with enough structure to carry a slice, and the board takes care of itself.

The Sweet and Savory One

Cranberry and bison sound like an odd pairing until you taste them together. The cranberry keeps the salami from going one note, and the bison gives it a cleaner, slightly richer character than an all pork salami would have. Sliced thin against sharp white cheddar, it is the piece on the board people go back to without being able to say why.

Twelve ounces goes further than people expect once it is sliced thin, and thin is how you want it. A thick slice of summer sausage eats like a meal, but a thin one eats like a snack, which is what keeps a board moving.

If You Would Rather Not Build It Yourself

Some years there is no time to think about any of this. You are driving in from the airport, or the guests moved up an hour, or you do not want to stand in a market comparing sausages while the clock runs.

Our Sausage, Cheese and Cracker box solves the whole board in one item. It carries three of our sausages, our Chalet Summer Sausage, the Beef Mountain, and the Beef with Jalapeno Peppers, so you get the mild, the smoky, and the one with heat without having to guess. It comes with a block of extra sharp cheddar, a jar of our honey mustard, and a package of crackers, which means the only thing left to do is find a cutting board.

The jalapeno sausage is the one that surprises people. It reads as a novelty on the label and then quietly becomes the piece that disappears first, because a little heat is what a rich board needs to keep from feeling heavy.

The One We Are Known For

Our Buffalo Salami is eighty percent bison and twenty percent beef, slow smoked in our USDA plant here in Belgrade, with enough garlic to notice and not enough to take over. It took Reserve Grand Champion at the Montana Meat Processors Convention, which matters mostly because the people judging it make sausage for a living and are difficult to impress.

Bison is leaner than beef, so it holds a firmer slice and does not go greasy sitting out, which is the practical reason it belongs on a board that has to last. The flavor is the other reason. It tastes like the animal it came from rather than like the spice blend, and on a table full of rich food that is a welcome thing.

Where We Are and When to Come

We are in Belgrade, a short drive from Bozeman and closer than most people realize when they are looking at a map. Everything on the board above was made here, in our own smokehouse, by people who live in this valley.

If you are hosting, come by before the day gets away from you. If you are the one showing up to somebody else's house, a board like this travels better than a casserole and gets a warmer reception than a bottle of wine that ends up in a cabinet.

A Few Questions We Get

Does any of it need refrigeration before the party?

Our summer sausage, salami, and jerky are shelf stable until you open them, so you can buy ahead and keep them in a cupboard. Once a package is opened, wrap it and refrigerate what is left.

How much do I need for a group?

A good starting point is a half pound of meat per person for a party where the board is the main food, and less if there is a real meal happening alongside it. Slice thin and it stretches.

Is your bison from Montana?

Our bison comes from ranches across the northern states, and every bit of the smoking and curing happens in our plant in Belgrade.

Can I ship this to somebody?

Yes. Shelf stable products travel well, which is why our gift boxes go out all over the country.

One Last Thing Before the Countdown

The best host on the last night of the year is the one standing in the room with everybody else. Build a board that does not need you, put it down, and let it work. We will have the smokehouse going either way.