Hidden Stories Among Us

In the heart of Wishek, North Dakota, there’s a tradition that’s seasoned with history, smoked with care, and stuffed full of local pride. We’re talking about the one and only Wishek sausage, the kind of sausage that makes people drive across state lines, fill their freezers, and even rethink their career path.

The story of this sausage starts in the early 1900s, when butchering your own meat and making sausage at home was just part of life, especially for Germans from Russian immigrant families like the Strohs. Their original recipe was simple, hearty, and made from what was on hand, spices most likely from the garden, meat from the farm, and a whole lot of family know-how. It was a recipe shared by many in those early days, but as people stopped butchering at home and started relying more on store-bought meat, the Stroh family’s version stood the test of time.

That’s when the story really took root in town. The recipe was handed down to Jim Klundt, a skilled butcher working at Herr Mercantile, a grocery store in Wishek. When the store closed, Jim teamed up with Stan Deile and opened the Red Owl Grocery Store in 1962. Alongside them was George Just, a close friend of Stan’s and the head meat cutter who helped keep the recipe alive. The store would later become Stan’s Supermarket, and today it’s run by Stan’s son, Darren Deile. Believe it or not, George still stops in to help make sausage, and it’s that kind of commitment that makes Wishek sausage more than just meat.

Employees stand outside Red Owl in Wishek c. 1962. Far left: Stan Deile and the next two gentlemen are George Just and Jim Klundt

Enter the next generation: Jacob Deile, Darren’s son and third-generation sausage maker. Jacob grew up in the store, but after high school he took a different path, pharmacy school at NDSU. Even there, he couldn’t escape the sausage. “Whenever I’d say I was from Wishek, someone would say, ‘That’s where the sausage is from!’” Jacob recalls. “I always told them, ‘Yep, we make it in our store.’ They never believed me.”

But deep down, Jacob knew where he was meant to be. Not a week went by during college when he didn’t feel the pull back home. He made a promise to his dad to finish his degree, then came back to Wishek for good.

“If you leave the pharmacy business to make sausage, it’s got to mean something to you,” Jacob laughs. And it does.

Jacob and his dad Darren own and operate Stan’s Supermarket today.

Stan’s Supermarket still makes everything the old-fashioned way, right there in the back of the store. Roughly 3,500 pounds of sausage a week is cut, ground, seasoned, stuffed, smoked, and packaged by hand. From ring sausage and brats to summer sausage and jerky, it’s all made from scratch using high-quality pork shipped in from Minnesota. And no, they don’t make hot dogs. That’s where they draw the line.

Word has spread far beyond Wishek. Stan’s ships sausage all over the country, especially during the colder months. From Florida to California and everywhere in between, fans keep the phone ringing. But no place loves Wishek sausage more than Montana. One family of six makes the trek to Stan’s every fall, loading up as much sausage as their vehicle can hold before heading home.

And if you can’t make it to Wishek, don’t worry; Jacob might be coming to you. Last summer he launched what he likes to call the “Wishek Sausage Road Tour,” hauling a trailer that holds up to 7,000 pounds of sausage to towns across North Dakota. Locals line up to get their fill of a recipe that hasn’t changed in more than a century.

As for the future? Jacob is making sure it’s in good hands.

“We need to expand into the future,” he says. “Whether it’s passed down to family or to someone who buys the business, it needs to stay profitable and sustainable. As long as I’m around, I’ll be sure the recipe sticks around.”

Want to know when the next sausage stop is coming your way? Follow the Stan’s SuperMarket page on Facebook to catch the next leg of the “Wishek Sausage Road Tour,” and maybe stock up before that Montana family buys it all!