Preparing & Storing

Nearly everything we sell online is fully cooked and ready to serve. The exceptions: our Peppered Bacon is raw and needs to be cooked, and so is our Fresh Sausage, sold frozen from the deli. Fresh cuts from the butcher counter are raw as well. Everything else — the smoked links, summer sausage, hams, smoked poultry, tenderloins, Canadian bacon, and cured meats — arrives ready to eat or ready to warm.

Storing Opa’s Smoked Meats. All Opa’s smoked meats require refrigeration, without exception. Unopened, product keeps in the refrigerator until the best-by date printed on the package, and frozen by that date, it keeps up to a year. Once a package is opened, keep sausage, hams, and sliced meats resealed airtight and use them within five to seven days. Cured meats and tenderloins also go into an airtight container once opened — it keeps their moisture in — and are best within three to five days. Thaw in the refrigerator, never on the counter.

Preparing Opa’s Smoked Meats. Our smoked meats are fully cooked and ready to serve, so you’re heating them through rather than cooking them. Hams and whole turkeys are excellent cold or gently warmed in the oven — don’t overheat them, or they dry out. Tenderloins are at their best at room temperature, sliced thin against the grain; if you want one warm, keep it whole and take the chill off in a low, covered oven — warm to the touch, never hot. For sausage: warm it on the grill over indirect medium heat, in the oven, or in a skillet. Medium heat matters, because high heat splits the casing before the middle is warm. We don’t recommend the microwave — it toughens the casing.

One exception: our Peppered Bacon is raw and needs to be cooked, like any bacon. Fresh cuts from the butcher counter are raw as well.