As they say, it’s a long road home. When Chris and Mollie Eley left their hometown for culinary school, stints in Thailand, and restaurants openings for big wig Chicago chefs, they never guessed the road would lead them back to Indianapolis. They opened their own meatery just a few miles from where these high school sweethearts first met. “We’ve known each other longer than we haven’t,” Mollie says, as she ties the apron strings behind her back.

Mollie—who has lent her childhood nickname “Goose” as the business’ namesake—is dressing to work at Goose the Market, the full-service butcher shop that Mollie and Chris opened in Indianapolis a decade ago. Based on the relationships with farmers and the recipes they developed behind the counter of this little neighborhood gem, the couple opened Smoking Goose, a wholesale smokehouse and meatery just down the road, about five years ago. With praise from New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Cooking Channel, New York Magazine’s Grub Street, Good Food Awards, and more, Smoking Goose combines old world craft with new world flavors for over 40 varieties of slow cured and smoked meats, salumi, and sausages.

Curing without compound nitrates, smoking over fruitwood, and blending organic spices takes more time and more skill than commonplace standards, but butcher and chef Chris knows it’s the only way to highlight where each of his recipes begin: on the farm. Smoking Goose carefully curates farm sources based on research, site visits, flavor, and personal relationships with farmers. Each package of their meat treats includes a source code that we can match at smokinggoose.com to learn more about the small, family-owned farm partners who raise animals for Chris and Mollie.

This careful sourcing and Chris new-school approach to charcuterie bring remarkable and craveable flavors to the table. We’re hooked on Gin & Juice Salame since bright juniper and fresh orange zest tingle over sweetly meaty lamb. Their Stagberry Salame combines rich elk with tart blueberries macerated under dry mead made near Smoking Goose by friends of Chris and Mollie. We’re especially excited to get to be among the first to offer their brand new Rust Belt Saucisson. With a hat tip to their native Midwest’s hardworking history and recent foodways renaissance, Rust Belt Saucisson is a cold-smoked salame with garlic, lemon peel, nutmeg, and single-source, heritage breed Duroc pork raised on pasture by fourth-generation farmer and Chris’ friend Greg Gunthorp.

Together, Smoking Goose’s finesse of flavor and impeccable technique combine for approachable but unique salumi, sausages, and smoked meats. Whether our dinner table, our picnic basket, or our midnight snack is calling, we’ve got a new Smoking Goose meat treat that delivers farm to people deliciously. See all their products here!