Been feeling itchy lately, wanting to get out of town. This paired with the need for taking a day off spelled nothing less than a Meat Adventure. And to be honest, I’ve been on a bacon jag for the last month or so and the chance to try a new bacon really give my spine a tingle.
While I don’t feel the urge to drive to Sacramento very often, Morants seemed like a good idea for a sunny October morning. Interested to see what bacon Morants gots?

Since Chilebrown has Fridays off, we paired up at a little before 8:30 Friday morning. October in the SF Bay Area is our best month for balmy weather. It was bright, clear and in the 70s. We were driving a reverse commute, traffic was easy peasy. And I, myself, was sportin’ my new shades. They’re prescription rigs and my first pair ever. Well, okay I had one 3 years ago, but they got taken when The Van was stolen. I don’t count those pair. Man, it was GREAT not squinting all day.
On the way up CB mentioned we were to hook up with an old friend of his. Larry is a retired CHP officer & Chef. If you need pointers or recipes for 500 people? Talk to Larry, he’s your guy. Need something woodworked? He can do that too. Check out the wicked mallet he gifted me.

We rolled in, changed vehicles and rolled right back out. In 10 minutes we pulled in to Morants’ parking lot (Larry loves to drive fast). It’s a dark concrete like building, not much going on. As we walked in my hands started to shake, look at all the meat !!!

I was offered help, but wanted to look around a little. They had weisswurst, polish, kielbasa, some kind of cheesy wiener, garlic sausages, Irish bacon, Canadian bacon, Amurican bacon, bulk Louisana & breakfast sausage. And much more !!! I walked up and down maybe 6 times before I could calm myself enough to order. Like Dittmer’s, the staff all spoke German. And over a few minutes it was clear the customers did too. That right there is a good sign, me thinks. Plus you can kinda see in the back where everything is made, no sysco trucks parked out back.
It was on the left hand side of the cooler that I started and made my way down the counter. Each sausage was carefully scrutinized. Yeah, kinda like a rabid hyena on acid. The Irish bacon, Canadian bacon and Amurican bacon finished up my spree. Oh, I forgot the fine German mustard (I bought 2)! I should have read the prices tags, $7.50 a jar, ouch. Chilebrown and Larry were on their own. I do know that Larry got himself a load of neck bones, he loves them neck bones.

CB sure got an armload, eh?
With a cooler completely packed tight, we made our way out. Man, I got myself 3 kinds of bacon! Huge, magnificent slabs of smoky bacon.

Since I really don’t know Sac. at all, I wasn’t aware Larry had pointed us in another direction. He said he wanted to stop by Nugget first, a grocery store. A huge, yet sprawling building with next to no cars in the lot. Course it was 11am on a Friday. As we walked in, it was clear we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Some watermelons were sitting on a 2 foot slab of exquisitely crushed ice and looked as though they’d been put there by angels. Another glance down the veggie isle and it looked as though they belonged in a Fine Art Gallery. No, this wasn’t just a fancy grocery store like Whole Foods, this was another planet entirely. The meat counter was just screaming quality, but not in your face. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the store has this quiet elegance about it. Too bad they’re all located in the Sacramento area.
The entire time, CB and Larry are exchanging snarky comments. CB is giving Larry a hard time for becoming a yuppie and not shopping at 7-11 anymore. I noticed within a few minutes Larry wasn’t putting anything in his cart. A few moments later CB sneers at Larry wanting to know if he’s buying anything or just showing off. Larry says he’s just showing off, fine by me. Good thing we didn’t stop here first, my sausage haul would have been far less.
The drive back was pretty uneventful at 84 degrees slicing at 75 mph. In a little over an hour, we were back.
CB asked if I had a moment to come in and thought it might be a good time to have a taste of bacons. What do you think? He had a stick of Redmond bacon left, so we compared Morants & Redmond’s best. They both cooked up well, CB likes his bacon cooked medium, mMmMm medium. While the Morants were sliced quite thick versus the Redmond, I think it’ll still make a good taste test. For the record, they were cooked in different cast iron skillets. No messing of flavors allowed!
Morants makes a first class bacon. And I have to say it’s the first time the bacon was so juicy I actually had a mouthful of “bacon juice” to go with my bacon. I could slurp and hear, bacon juice. Lordy, that juicy feeling stayed with me for probably an hour after my last slice, insane. Of course Redmond’s was outstanding. Ms. Goofy chose it over Morants. Even so, Morants is a solid performer. The smoke is on the light side, but the cure and pork flavors are so well melded it bends the mind. Plus, this piggy had tons of meat on its belly. I’d most certainly say it’s above average for meat versus fat ratios. But this varies on every animal, so expect that to change from batch to batch. Morants’ bacon is a total and complete score.
Time to go home and cook up some wieners!
When I got home I just had to cook up the Garlic Sausages. Dittmer’s were the best ever and I wanted to see what these were like.

Install in to a rapidly boiling pot of water for 5 minutes, serve with fine German (7.50 a damned jar) mustard. Uh, I wasn’t impressed. And I have to say I was kinda surprised. I was wanting to be impressed. But the flavor was kinda flat. And the juicy ratio was below par. To worsen the experience my favorite mustard wasn’t as sparky as I remember.
Sometime over the weekend I indirect grilled the cheesy wieners. One bite and that was enough. Holy cow, it was like biting in to a lump of butter it was so rich. “Too much.” Mama and I said. Well, the bacon sure is good though.

All in all I think it was an outstanding day. I got out for my walkies, met a new friend and scored some excellent bacon. So far the sausages haven’t quite lived up to my expectations. But I have quite a few left, so there’s another chance or 12. Would I drive all the way to Sacramento for the same booty? No, probably not. I have some friends up that way and when, some day, I visit them, I’ll stop in and get some more bacon.
Morant’s Old Fashioned Sausage Kitchen
5001 Franklin Boulevard,
Sacramento, CA
(916) 731-4377.
Cheers,
Biggles