EDMONTON JOURNAL: Real Deal Delis: Baltyk Meat a destination for fans of homemade sausage.
EDMONTON – The comforting smell of smoked meat fills the nostrils the moment you walk into Baltyk Meat, a Polish deli in the Kingsway area.
Co-owner Ben Jasinski, 58, was a sausage-maker in his homeland of Poland before he fled to Canada 25 years ago. With his wife and their two young girls, he walked away from their home, packing only a few things, looking for all the world as if they intended to return from a visit to relatives in Germany.
They didn’t. With virtually no money, and few possessions, the family was lucky that Jasinski’s head was stuffed with knowledge — knowledge that he put to work, first as a black market meat cutter in Germany, and later, when he and his family came to Canada as refugees. “I came to Canada, and I thought about doing something from home,” recalls Jasinski, who worked at a meat-packing plant for a few years before starting Baltyk Meat. “But the inspiration was my wife. I was too chicken.”
Today, Jasinski’s deep understanding of flavour, texture and variety in sausage meat makes his deli (co-owned with partner Jan Figura, also a Polish emigrant) a destination, not only for those of Polish extraction, but for all Edmontonians who appreciate good cured meat. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/food/Real+Deal+Delis+Baltyk+Meat+destination+fans+homemade+sausage/9494864/story.html