Iowa’s Wurst Road Trip: Casing Fairbank

We were on the historic Iowa Meat Locker Trail and…..Well, there’s not an official trail, but we’re working on it. 104 Grove Street

The last winter road trip took us to some great towns across Northeast and North Central Iowa. What we also encountered were some great folks who are working hard everyday to get the previous deer season’s processing done for their loyal customers. Though they were all cutting, curing, grinding, slicing and dicing their days away at great speeds, they still took time to welcome The Iowa Gallivant and the crew at the Fairbank Locker were no different.

Fairbank Locker-Fairbank, Iowa

Saturday at the local locker. The cases were fully stocked and it was impossible to not want at least one of everything. Something smoked, something freshly cut, something marinated, a package of meat sticks….two packages, that jerky and the three next to it…You can see where this is going. Fairbank Locker has great variety. Here’s what we made when we got home….

Double down! No, I’m not talking about playing blackjack. We’re talking patties!

Before we get to the Wurst of Fairbank, we need to talk meatloaf. It doesn’t have to come out of pan from your oven every time. Fairbank Locker makes a mean meatloaf patty and we took a package home and got after it. Two meatloaf patties with grilled onions, melted American and Swiss cheeses and a very chunky Bleu cheese mayo. Got my veggies for the day cuz of lettuce, tomato and red onion. Ketchup counts too.

Will the patty madness ever end!?! I hope it doesn’t.

Let’s get to the bratwurst and let’s eat it too. One of Fairbank’s best sellers is their Pineapple Bratwurst and our lunch table could see why. We seared these patties up and added grilled pineapple rings, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and very spicy red jalapenos. Aloha from Fairbank!

Another breakfast for dinner and that’s a very good thing, folks.

The breakfast links at this locker were as good as it gets. Filled with hashbrowns, onion and majorly cheesy. We sliced them up and made killer breakfast quesadillas and added some squeak to it. Local cheese curds provided that texture and that’s how to Midwestern’up a classic Southwestern inspiration.