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How to Heat Our Products
Everything in our packaged line is fully cooked except Peppered Bacon, so you're heating it through, not cooking it. Sausage first: the seven smoked links, plus the cooked Bratwurst and Knackwurst, which heat the same way. The rest of the lineup is below.
Sausage
It's already fully cooked. You're heating it through, not cooking it.
What matters more than the method
- Medium heat, never high — high heat splits the casing before the center is warm.
- Turn it often.
- Don't prick the casing. That's the snap.
- Let the links sit out 10–15 minutes first so they heat evenly.
- Grill
- Preheat grill to medium. Place sausage links over indirect heat — not directly over the flame — and warm 8–10 minutes, turning frequently.
- Skillet
- Fill skillet with ½ inch of water and bring to a simmer. Add sausage links and heat about 12 minutes, turning frequently. Pour off the water and heat 1–2 minutes more to develop color.
- Oven
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Place links on a baking sheet and heat about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Air Fryer
- Place links in a single layer on the crisper plate, no liner. Set to 300°F, no preheat, and heat 7 minutes — no turning needed. Remove with tongs and serve.
- Microwave
- Not recommended — it toughens the casing. Texture and flavor are best on the grill, in a skillet, in the oven, or in an air fryer, and every one of those takes ten minutes or less.
Cooking times and temperatures will vary. Cheese varieties want the low end.
If it didn't go well
- It split and came out dry.
- The heat ran too high. Medium, turned often.
- Still cold in the middle.
- Straight from the fridge, the outside finishes before the center warms. Let the links sit out 10–15 minutes first, and don't crowd the pan.
- The cheese ran out.
- High heat. Cheese links want lower heat and less time.
- Rubbery in the slow cooker.
- It was in too long. Add whole links for the last 30 minutes on low.
Slow cooker? Heat it first, then hold it.
Whole links: brown or grill them first, then into the pot for the last 30 minutes on low (or 15 on high), just until warmed through. Coins in sauce: brown, then 1½–2 hours on low — the party format. Beans, chili, gumbo: everything else cooks first; the sausage goes in for the last 45–60 minutes.
Sliced into coins (¼ inch)
Oven, 375°F, single layer: about 6 minutes, turning halfway. Air fryer, 300°F, no preheat: about 4 minutes. On a sheet pan with vegetables: the vegetables set the temperature; the coins go on for the last few minutes, no more than 6.
How much do I need?
Sausage is the meal, on buns: two links a person. Plated with sides: one and a half. With a second meat: one. On a board: half a link, about 7 or 8 coins. Each package is four links — so twenty people is eight to ten packages if sausage is the meal, five for a mixed grill, three for a board. Buy one more than the math says; the extra keeps.
Smoked Ham
Every Opa's ham is fully cooked — you're warming, not cooking — and every one is just as good cold.
Bone-in hams (Hickory and Honey Glazed), whole and half: preheat to 325°F. Take the ham out of the refrigerator an hour before it goes in. Remove the plastic packaging, set it in a roasting pan with ⅓ cup of water, and cover with a foil tent. Heat until hot and completely heated through — about one hour for a whole ham, thirty minutes for a half. Let it stand before carving. The Honey Glazed is glazed at the smokehouse, so there's nothing to baste.
Boneless Peppered Ham: built to be sliced, and best cold or at room temperature — 20 to 30 minutes out of the refrigerator before slicing, so the pepper and smoke open up. To warm it slightly: 275°F, covered, a splash of water in the pan, 20 to 30 minutes — warm to the touch, not hot. Slices warm in a skillet in a minute or two. It runs leaner than a bone-in ham, so warm it less than you think — never high heat, never uncovered, never long.
Whole Smoked Turkey
Fully cooked. Served warm or cold.
If frozen, thaw in the refrigerator one day for every five pounds. Preheat to 325°F. Remove the plastic packaging, place the turkey breast-side up in a roasting pan, add ⅓ cup of water, and cover with a foil tent. Six to eight minutes per pound, or until the breast reaches 140°F. Do not overheat — overheating robs the turkey of moisture. Pink near the bone is normal on smoked poultry; it comes from the cure and the smoke.
Whole Smoked Chicken
Fully cooked. Warm it, or use it cold anywhere you'd use a rotisserie chicken.
Preheat to 325°F. Place the chicken breast-side up in a roasting pan, add ⅓ cup of water, and cover with a foil tent. Warm until the breast reaches 140°F. At 1.5 to 2.5 pounds it warms far faster than a turkey, so check it early rather than running a per-pound figure. Don't overheat — it's already cooked, and extra time only dries it out. Pink near the bone is normal.
Smoked Turkey Legs
Fully cooked. The grill beats the oven here.
Medium heat, turning, until hot all the way through and the skin tightens and crisps — move them off direct flame if it flares. If you like using a thermometer, 140°F is plenty; hot through with crisp skin is the real cue. Pink near the bone is normal. Or in the oven: 325°F, covered, until hot all the way through.
Peppered Beef and Pork Tenderloins
Fully cooked. Best at room temperature, sliced thin.
Out of the refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before slicing, thin, against the grain. If you want it warm, keep it whole: a low oven, covered, with a little water in the pan, just long enough to take the chill off. Warm to the touch, never hot — it's already cooked, and it dries fast. Never warm the slices in a skillet.
Canadian Bacon
Fully cooked. Lean and delicate.
Warm it gently — a quick pan sear or a low oven — or slice it cold for sandwiches and brunch boards. Overcooking dries it out.
Summer Sausage and the Cured Meats
Fully cooked. Served cold — not heated.
Summer sausage, Peppered Cured Smoked Beef and Peppered Cured Smoked Turkey Breast are board, sandwich and cooler items, sliced thin. Take them out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before serving. All of them need refrigeration; none is shelf-stable. Once opened, keep the cured meats in an airtight container and use them within three to five days.
Head Cheese and Liverwurst
Fully cooked. Two ways, both ours to recommend.
Cold, thin-sliced on rye — head cheese with whole-grain mustard, liverwurst with thin-sliced onion and sharp mustard. Or sliced and browned in a skillet over medium heat until warmed through and lightly crisp on the outside.
Peppered Bacon — and the Raw Ones
Raw. Must be cooked before eating.
Peppered Bacon is the one raw item in the packaged smoked line. Cook it thoroughly in a skillet, in the oven or on the grill, exactly as you would any raw bacon.
At the deli, our Fresh Sausage from the freezer is raw too — cook it all the way through to 160°F, same as any fresh sausage. Fresh cuts from the butcher counter are raw as well.
Keeping It
All Opa's smoked meats need refrigeration, without exception — summer sausage and the cured meats included.
Unopened, everything keeps in the refrigerator until the best-by date on the package. Frozen in the sealed package by that date, it keeps up to a year. Once opened, keep sausage, hams and sliced meats airtight and use them within five to seven days; tenderloins and the cured meats go in an airtight container too, to hold their moisture — use them within three to five days.
Thaw in the refrigerator, never on the counter: sausage overnight; a whole turkey one day for every five pounds; a ham or whole chicken, a day is enough for anything under about eight pounds.
Questions
Do I need a thermometer?
No. It's already fully cooked, so this is about heating it through rather than food safety — 165°F if you like using one. The exceptions are the raw items above: Peppered Bacon cooks like any bacon, and Fresh Sausage from the deli cooks through to 160°F.
Can I heat sausage from frozen?
Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator first; it heats evenly that way. The refrigerator is the only way we recommend thawing — never the counter.
Which products are fully cooked?
All nine sausages (seven smoked, plus the Bratwurst and Knackwurst, which are cooked, not smoked), all hams, whole smoked turkey, smoked chicken, turkey legs, the beef and pork tenderloins, Canadian bacon, summer sausage, the cured smoked beef and turkey breast, head cheese and liverwurst. Peppered Bacon is raw. At the deli, Fresh Sausage and the fresh cuts from the butcher counter are raw as well.
How long can it sit out at a party?
Two hours out of refrigeration — one hour if it's over 90°F. Held hot above 140°F in a slow cooker, roaster or chafing dish, the clock doesn't run. Put out half and keep the rest cold; refill rather than running one big platter all afternoon. Past the window it goes in the trash, not back in the refrigerator.