PRODUCER & EDITOR
This was the first news segment I independently produced and edited from concept to completion for Kansas City's public radio station, KCUR 89.3.
Teaching Kansas Citians To Make Sausage Warms Jimmy Spradlin's 'Little Butcher's Heart'
On a busy Sunday afternoon in Kansas City's East Bottoms, there are people lunching at picnic tables on a gravel lot outside of the Local Pig. Inside, just behind the deli counter, there’s a huge butcher’s block, where chefs and amateurs alike have gathered for a crash course.
“There's a pretty good mix of people in the class,” butcher Jimmy Spradlin says. “There's a young chef and then just some old rough and tumble redneck guy that's like, ‘I'm just here for the pork chops.’”
But today, they’re all here to make sausage.
Spradlin has been the head butcher at the Local Pig for two years, and he teaches a class every Sunday. He says the shop produces around 400 pounds of fresh sausage every week.
“If Local Pig has a heart and soul, it's sausage, it really is,” he says. “Mostly the demand for the sausage class just came from people wanting to be able to work with meat in their kitchen.”
During the class, Spradlin sets out herbs and spices, most of which are typical household ingredients: garlic, rosemary, sage.
“Chiefly, a sausage will have probably 10 or less ingredients in it,” Spradlin says.
Photo Credit: KCUR 89.3
Central Standard
Central Standard is a live, arts and ideas talk show hosted by Gina Kaufmann on Kansas City's public radio station. As an intern, I worked closely with the team to pitch show ideas, interview and book guests and produce and edit programs. To view my work, check out my KCUR portfolio below.