Nodine's

For Summer Picnics

Tanglewood and Music Mountain are beginning their summer seasons, promising opportunities to spend evenings on their lush grounds surrounded by the opulent sounds of music performed by world-class musicians while stars twinkle overhead.

Many of the music-lovers visiting these venues will bring a sumptuous repas—picnic suppers sometimes served on china with chandeliers gracing linen-covered tables. Others spread a blanket on the ground, open their picnic basket, and lay out their offerings in the center of a circle of friends, perhaps with a rustic bouquet of flowers as a centerpiece.

Clearly, the settings call for foods a cut above the ordinary and that is where the specialty meats of Nodine’s Smokehouse come into play. Nodine's, a family-owned business based in Goshen, has been providing gourmet smoked meat, poultry, fish and cheese since 1969.

Nodine’s found its origins when Ronald Nodine and his wife, Johanne, moved their family from Terryville to a small Goshen farm they purchased in 1966. The move was a bit of a departure for the family as Ron, who trained as a mechanical engineer, worked for New Departure and Wallace Barnes in Bristol.

But Ron Nodine enjoyed country life, working his farm and taking part in his children’s 4-H activities. He and his wife raised a variety of livestock including pigs, beef cows, dairy cows, rabbits, geese, chickens and a pony. They grew a big vegetable garden every year and baled hay in the summer. Johanne baked bread, made jams, jellies, maple syrup and apple cider. She canned vegetables and cared for rabbits, piglets, calves, and chicks in the kitchen because they were too tender to be in the barn.

By the late 1960s Ron had decided to leave engineering to start his own business. He and Johanne bought an old wooden smokehouse for $200 from a man in Burrville. The deal came with a promise that the seller would teach the Nodines all he knew about smoking meats. It was a promise unfulfilled because that weekend the man had a heart attack. Nodine regrouped, got one day of instruction from a UConn agriculture professor and launched his business.

At first custom-smoked meat was the scope their business but they were inexorably—albeit reluctantly—dragged into retail sales, their small-batch Smokehouse Bacon becoming an immediate hit. Made using traditional methods, the cured and aged all-natural pork bellies are still smoked with the balance of hickory, juniper and apple hardwood using time-tested recipes.

Their range of products includes beef, pork (including the coveted Berkshire Pork), ducks, chickens, game animals and fish. Today, in addition to their Goshen retail shop, they offer online ordering and sell their products in Manhattan and across the country.

Nodine, the one-time novice, who died in 2018 after 49 years in the business, eventually became a director of the American Association of Meat Packers. His wife remained vice president of their company until her death in 2022.

The business flourished in tiny Goshen but with success comes problems. The business had taken over more than half of their home and threatened to invade the rest. So in 1988 they decided to move into an old knitting mill in nearby Torrington. There, under the leadership of their son, Calvin, and his wife, Kelly, the business continues, with all work being done in the revamped production facility and their own retail shop still located behind the family home in Goshen.

The Nodines use only the highest-quality, federally inspected ingredients for the products they produce in their USDA-certified facility. A team of artisans handcrafts all their products in small batches from the raw ingredients using traditional methods.

Despite the scale of their 21st-century operation, they still provide custom smoking. Planning a pig roast? They will get one fresh or smoke it for you. They even offer casings so aficionados can make their own sausage at home.

The firm not only provides meats and fish but also has a selection of smoked cheese. Their website says that it took years to perfect a smoked cheese that everyone loves—finding just the right amount of smoke, properly timed at the correct temperature and with the correct blend of wood. Customers can choose among smoked gruyere, pepper jack or cheddar.

Gift packages come in a variety of styles. The newest package is for the cheese and wine lover and includes pieces of all three cheeses, a smoked beef summer sausage, a jar of honey mustard and a box of Carr’s table wafers. At $55 it is a perfect accompaniment for a bottle of fine wine.

Another possibility is the “Yankee Sampler” ($120). It features Canadian bacon, apple bacon, sweet cured sliced beef, smoked boneless chicken breast, two Cornish game hens, a venison summer sausage, chicken cranberry apple sausage, all three smoked cheeses, honey mustard and horseradish mustard.
Moving up the scale, there is a perfect accompaniment for a holiday meal: a smoked crown roast of pork ($231). Hand-trimmed and prepared, it includes 18-21 ribs, frills and sausage for stuffing and weighs 12 to 13 pounds.

And finally, the crème de la crème, the “Gourmet Delight” ($270). This gift package includes a collection of Nodine’s finest gourmet meats, cheeses and sauces. Shipped in a wooden basket, it comes complete with a boneless party ham, two boneless smoked chicken breasts, a whole smoked duck, whole smoked pheasant, sweet and hot pork ribs, beef summer sausage, three cheeses, country pate, honey mustard, apple smoked bacon, pancake mix and pure maple syrup.

Nodine’s even takes note of the family pooch, offering smoked bones ranging in size from tiny knuckle bones to the “Dino,” designed for large dogs or “really mean cats.”

Nodine’s is located at 39 North Street in Goshen; 860-491-4009 or nodinesmokehouse.com.