Meat Your Maker

Charcuterie and salumi madness forges on. But when we find ourselves hankering for an unsung taste of tradition, we turn to Seakor Delicatessen and Sausage Factory in the Outer Richmond.

Seakor--a good place to get an informal introduction to Polish cuisine--sells house-dried mushrooms, Eastern European candies and, most notably, a dizzying array of pork products. Like its sister shop by the same name in the South Bay, the 33-year-old Seakor is famous for its selection of sausages, mixed, stuffed and cured by owner Jozef Sikora.

Everyone knows Poland's most famous link, kielbasa, a khaki-colored sausage simply labeled "Polish" in Seakor's crowded case.

Less familiar, kabanos is a pale strand, thin like a swollen jump rope. The interior is creamy and smooth under the crackly casing. Its flavor hinges on garlic, generous quantities of pepper and a whisper of caraway.

The hunter sausage, or mysliwska, is a more rugged affair: Cubes of fat and pork cling together in a dark, pebbly tube. When you bite through the outer bark, rivulets of pungent juice ooze forth like sap.

Try it sliced with rye bread and mustard or gnaw straight from the wrinkled paper in which it was wrapped.

Seakor Delicatessen and Sausage Factory, 5957 Geary Blvd. (at 24th Ave.); 415-387-8660