Food gifting: A basket full of meat from Blue Max Sausage

Nothing says "I think you're awesome" better to a guy than a basket full of smoked meat. The only thing that might make it better is to hand over the gift with a growler (check back Friday for a blog post on gifting growlers).

Blue Max Sausage in Puyallup is one of those off-the-radar businesses that I don't think gets enough attention for the meats they smoke. Their meat smoking and curing is done on site - they produce smoked sausages, jerky, summer sausage and pepperoni. The sausage company is also a butcher shop.

Ask a question or two at the counter and one of the staffers will regale you with stories about jerky and pepperoni making. Want a sample? No problem - it takes nothing more than curiosity to be handed a hunk of jerky or pepperoni. Standing at the counter of Blue Max is one of my happy places.

Try the pepperoni – made from beef, not pork – which has the lightest snap ($10.99 a pound). The butcher stocks a half dozen other kinds of pepperoni - check out the partial list of products below. Bonus: They make their own landjager. That German sausage is hard to find, but not impossible. Hess Deli in Lakewood also sells a pretty decent landjager out of its deli case.

At Blue Max, house-made beef jerky is $17.99 a pound. The summer sausage is a bargain at $3-$6. They sell gift packs for the discerning meat-lovin' dude for under $30.

The shop is at 9512 Canyon Road E., Puyallup, 253-535-6110.

Products (not even close to a full list):Jerky: Bbq, beef, peppered, cajun Beef summer sausages: Regular, jalapeno and jalapeno-mozerellaPepperoni: Beef, hot, sweet pepper, teriyakiAlso: Around a dozen smoked sausages, landjager, dog bones, their own barbecue sauce and just about any kind of meat cut you can ever want to stuff into your mouth. This is a great all-purpose butcher shop.

Editor’s note: This gifting series features edibles from South Sound food businesses. Check back daily through Dec. 23 for something new.

This story was originally published December 16, 2012 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Food gifting: A basket full of meat from Blue Max Sausage."