Fred Usinger, Inc., better known as Usinger's, is a

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

-making company located in downtown

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, on Old World Third Street within the Old World Third Street Historic District.

History

Fred Usinger, an apprentice sausage maker from Wehen in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, emigrated to

in the late 1870s. Usinger found work at a small butcher shop on Third Street owned by a Mrs. Julia Gaertner. After approximately a year, Usinger purchased Gartner's business and married her niece, Louise. The couple grew the business and, eventually, their sausage was being shipped nationally. A distribution center in the Walker's Point neighborhood was opened in 1994. During the 1990s, operational control passed to the fourth generation siblings, Fritz and Debra Usinger.

Products

Usinger's produces many kinds of sausages and meats, in many cases using traditional 19th-century recipes. Michael Bartlett's 1984 book ''The Book of Bests'' decreed, "If we were forced to pick just one 'great' hot dog we'd probably go with Usinger's of Milwaukee. Usinger's line of cold cuts reaches heights of quality and flavor rarely achieved in this country." Former ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

Mimi Sheraton Mimi Sheraton (born Miriam Solomon; February 10, 1926) is an American food critic and writer. Family and education Sheraton's mother, Beatrice, was described as an excellent cook and her father, Joseph Solomon, as a commission merchant in a wh ...

wrote in 1973, "Now, the good news. If ever I decide to move to Milwaukee, it will be because of Usinger's..."Sheraton, Mimi. "Food/ Made to Be Sold, Not Eaten." ''New York'' Sep. 3, 1973, p. 67.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.usinger.com German-American history Manufacturing companies based in Milwaukee Sausage companies of the United States