4505 Meats

4505 Meats is one of the food vendors at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, there every day the market is open (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays).  They offer cooked to order items, but also have most of their products available to take home and cook as well.  Back when I used to cook more at home I enjoyed many of their products, particularly the bacon studded hot dogs.  Probably my favorite hot dogs ever, and perfect with a brioche hot dog bun from Acme (also located at the Ferry Building).  And some fresh corn on the cob on the side.  I have many fond memories of these magical summer dinners!

They also offer up insanely delicious sounding weekly specials, most of which I haven't tried, but drool over the descriptions regularly.

I recently learned that they also do catering, as I discovered them at an event at work, where I got to try a few more of their items.  And, before the foie gras ban, I discovered at last minute that they make some amazing foie gras pot de cream.  I hope that someday soon they are able to offer that again, as it is a tragedy that I only had it once!

Cheddar bratwurst: 1/4 pound sausage made with pork, Tillamonk cheddar, chilis, touch of heat.

Wow, they really know how to cook a brat!  Perfectly crispy outside, ridiculously juicy inside.  It squirted all over the place when I bit into it, creating a huge mess, but I gleefully ignored this until I was done.  At which point I realized my shirt was oil stained forever.  Whoops.

The cheese was melted inside, gooey and delicious.

I don't generally like brats, but this was very good.  If I were in the mood for one again, I'd certainly get it from them.

Frankaroni: mac and cheese with bacon, deep fried, on a stick.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Let's just say I was excited to try this.  Seriously?  Deep fried mac and cheese?

Unfortunately, I didn't like it very much.  Although the inside was creamy and decent, it was just too oily and greasy for me.  I did like the crunch the deep frying provided.

Wouldn't get again, but I'm glad I finally tried it.

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Cheeseburger.

I think this is their most popular item, so I had to eventually try it.  People rave about it, but I really wasn't impressed.

The bun was very oily.  The patty was thin, cooked medium-well, and wasn't very juicy.  The melted gruyere was really good though.  There was also a lot of special sauce that reminded me of McDonald's.

Overall, it was just very oily and greasy.  It has its place for sure, but not that great of a burger, and not one that really fits in with being at the Ferry Building, enjoying the farmer's market.  More fitting perhaps for a late night diner, with a milkshake on the side :)

Foie gras pot de creme, foie gras boudin blanc.

My last foie goods, purchased the final Saturday before the ban went into effect.  I stored the sausages in my freezer, to enjoy a few weeks later once I was foie-deprived.

The foie pot de creme was fantastic.  It had a good, strong foie flavor and was incredibly creamy.  It clearly contained a lot of foie and was well made.  The stone fruit compote on the bottom was perfect with it, but I would have preferred if my entire jar was filled with the foie :)  I enjoyed this slowly over the course of a couple days, sometimes just by the spoonful, but sometimes jazzing it up some.  The best pairing I found was slathered on some hot brioche.  Swoon.  I really, really wish I could get another jar of this goodness!

The foie gras boudin blanc was good, very juicy, but I didn't really taste a lot of foie.  I'm sure the foie added to the juiciness and richness of it though.  We cooked them up, slathered on some of my cousin's homemade nectarine jam and some grainy mustard, and attempted to eat them inside of Acme brioche hotdog buns, but the sausages were soo fat that they split the rolls open immediately.  The rolls were just too puny to hold up to these monsters!

I felt like these elements all should have come together better than they did - foie, stone fruit, brioche ... those should be a match made in heaven, but I was disappointed.  I think some of it was our cooking method, and perhaps they suffered from being frozen.  I wish we had done something different with them, particularly, I am imagining a risotto with bits of this cut up in it.  Sorta like a very gourmet version of rice-a-roni with hot dogs in it like I used to eat ... now this would be a real San Francisco treat!  But ... unfortunately, I'll never get a chance to try out that idea :(

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Bacon Studded Hot Dog.

Yes, they take a hot dog, and very generously stud it with bacon.  Like the brat, the moment I bite into this thing, juices went squiring absolutely everywhere.  It was so oily.  I wanted to dislike it.  But, alas, it was delicious.  The bacon and insane amount of fat just keep the whole thing so moist and juicy.  Yumtastic.

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Chicharrones.

I think the chicharrones may be 4505's most famous product.  Described as "irresistible clouds of puffy pork magic, seasoned with only the finest chilis, sugar, and salt".

I laughed when I read the description, but, it was fitting!  Super crispy.  Such intense pork flavor.  So delicious.  You probably shouldn't eat many of these, but a few is quite the treat :)