You might think that a popular television drama like Downton Abbey and a local sausage maker like Franco Dunn have little in common.
But they do.
Both the acclaimed drama and the widely praised artisan sausages stand on the shoulders of the pioneers who came before them.
Lady Mary Josephine Crawley, played by Michelle Dockery, of Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey wouldn’t exist, certainly not in its current form, without Upstairs Downstairs, the enormously popular 1970s PBS drama featuring the lives of an upper class British family and the butler, cook, maids and footmen who serve them. If you love Downton Abbey and have not seen Upstairs Downstairs you are in for a treat, especially since the entire series is now available for instant viewing at netflix. At a minimum, you’ll have fun catching the similarities between the two shows. At best, you’ll fall in love and carry such characters as Rose, Mrs. Bridges, Hudson, Richard, James and my favorite, the shy red-haired beauty Hazel, with you forever, as I do. In more ways that I want to admit, though that is a story for another time. Or maybe never.
Hazel Bellamy, played by Meg Wynn Owen, in an episode from Season 4 of Upstairs Downstairs
But what about sausages? you rightly wonder.
Franco Dunn’s sausages are among the finest I’ve ever tasted. Indeed, I find his chorizos positively addictive–I cannot resist them.
Bruce Aidells, with his signature sausages.
Whether or not Franco ever thinks about it, he stands on the shoulders of Bruce Aidells, aka The Sausage King. Bruce, who started his career as a cancer researcher, was part of the famed Gourmet Ghetto of Berkeley, where he was inspired, back in 1979, when he met Anzonini del Puerto, a flamenco singer, dancer and sausage maker, while Les Blank was filming Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers. Bruce made Anzonini’s chorizo and the rest, as they say, is history. Suddenly, once-regional sausages like andouille were available in the Bay Area and then nation wide and the sausage revolution was on.
Bruce sold his highly successful sausage company in 2002 but his legacy lives on even as he has moved on, in part through artisans like Franco Dunn. Anyone who makes specialty sausages today stands on Bruce’s broad shoulders.
A few years ago, Bruce and his wife, chef Nancy Oakes, built a home in Healdsburg. He doesn’t make a lot of public appearances but now there is an opportunity–a delicious one–to meet him.
On Sunday, August 5, Bruce will be the featured author at a benefit for the Sonoma County Book Festival taking place at Windrush Farm, a beautiful working ranch in south Petaluma. I’ll be in conversation with Bruce and we’ll talk about his latest book, The Great Meat Book, to be published in October. If you have any questions about meat, grass-fed beef, humanely raised animals or the term organic as it applies to meat, you don’t want to miss this event. I’ll also get Bruce to tell some of his great stories about life at the heart of the Gourmet Revolution, which changed the way we all eat. Add to this delicious foods–pizza from the outdoor oven, sausages, Lagunitas beer, free-flowing wine and the famous honeydew melon and absinthe salad that has become a tradition at this annual event–and a beautiful location with interesting, engaging guests and you really really don’t want to miss it.
Yanni’s Sausage Grill of Penngrove is donating sausages for the event. Yanni is thrilled, he says, to meet the man who inspired him to become a sausage maker.
It all takes place from 2 to 5 p.m. on August 5 at Windrush Farm, 2263 Chileno Valley Rd., Petaluma. You can get more information from J. J. Wilson at boxcar@sonic.net or 795-9028. Tickets are also available at brownpapertickets.com and via its event page at facebook, which you can find here. Admission is a sliding scale donation, $40 to $60. Children under 12 are free.
Anne Marie Murphy
This promises to be a fun, tasty event….and it’s a major fundraiser for the upcoming Sonoma County Book Festival. If you cannot make it to this event please consider donating, we appreciate it!
July 27th, 2012 2:27 pm
Anne Marie Murphy
This promises to be a fun, tasty event and it’s a major fundraiser for the Sonoma County Book Festival in Santa Rosa on Sept. 22, 2012.
If you can’t make it to this event please consider a donation, large or small, we appreciate it!
Thank you.
July 27th, 2012 2:29 pm
Penny Hastings
The Windrush Farm benefit for the Sonoma County Book Festival is a yearly MUST for me…and for most of my friends! This year will be special with Bruce Adells talking about his new book, The Great Meat Book, and hearing his stories about Gourmet Ghetto of Berkeley. And an interesting pairing with you, Michele–you always bring zest to any conversation!
July 27th, 2012 2:47 pm
Franco Dunn
In 1981 I became Bruce Aidells room mate and later on the first employee of Aidells sausage company. I was a starving culinary student at the time. We have been friends for over thirty-five years in spite of the many arguments we have over a hotly contested game of cribbage. Three days ago I won thirty-five cents from him in a two hour seesaw battle.
July 27th, 2012 3:10 pm
Marylu Downing
Thank goodness for his chicken sausage idea, or I would have gone without for 25 years, with the ditching of red meat. I look forward to his sausages with the usual wonderful brick oven pizzas at Wind Rush this year. Thanks, Michele, fun and informative! Marylu
July 27th, 2012 3:16 pm
susan swartz
If you ever think you’ve missed summer in SoCo, just go to Windrush Farm in August. bring a sunhat, sit on haybales, talk about food and wine and all our good local things. I consider it a must-do August event.
July 27th, 2012 4:29 pm
Robbi Sommers Bryant
This will be my first year at the Windrush event. I’ve never been before but have heard so many fabulous things about it, I’m on board. This is the first year I’ve heard about this … where have I been? Hope to see lots of us. Who doesn’t love a good sausage?
July 28th, 2012 8:11 am
Toni Wilkes
The joy of summer and celebration of local food: Combine that with supporting the So Co Annual Book Festival! It’s a total win-win all the way around. It’s always a delight to visit Windrush Farm!
July 28th, 2012 9:51 am
trish
I love learning about the amazing local people we have here in Sonoma County!
Also, thanks for reminding me about Upstairs Downstairs. I heard about it years ago and completely forgot about it. Into the queue it goes!
July 28th, 2012 3:24 pm
Linda Loveland Reid
I have already purchased 2 tickets and am looking forward to the day! I love Aidells Sausage and keep it on hand all the time.
July 28th, 2012 4:51 pm
bruce AIDELLS
I think this will be a fun and informative event and maybe a laugh or 2 and certainly some great food. I have known Michele Anna Jordan for many years and when I have been her guest on her radio show we always have lively conversations. She will no doubt have some great questions to ask me and I promise to mostly give her truthful answers, although I have always been prone to exaggeration and story telling. However, I trust you find our conversation entertaining.
July 30th, 2012 11:04 am
Nicolle
As my exile from my home in Cali continues, I can chime in about Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. A very interesting difference between the two is that the Bellamys (Bellamies?) live in London and seem to have no country house that I can recall, whereas the family in Downton Abbey live in rural England. They all belong to the aristocracy (tho I think Richard Bellamy is merely a gentleman, not an aristocrat; did Lady Bellamy have a title?). Downton Abbey speaks to the current Home improvement/Home Depot aspect of our culture (“I want my own castle like that one!”) , whereas Upstairs Downstairs was more about social change (suffrage, empire, middle class ascendancy, etc.). OK, my exile in academia is now exposed; hope all you lucky Californians enjoy the sausage lesson and feast!
August 2nd, 2012 12:14 pm
MicheleAnna.Jordan
Fascinating, Nicolle, thank you! You are right about Richard Bellamy being a gentleman and not an aristocrat. Lady Marjorie married beneath her. He does receive a title, in late Season 3, I think. They do not have a country house, though Lady Marjorie’s family home is Southwold, where her mother still lives.
August 2nd, 2012 1:35 pm