Easter is right around the corner, three weeks from today. Many families either go out after Easter church services to a fantastic brunch, or they will have a great Easter meal at home with extended family. Many will do both.

In northeast Ohio, two items are typically on the table for this once-a-year celebration: the Easter ham and kielbasa. I wanted to write an article on the perfect ham for Easter, but needed some education on the topic.

I was fortunate to meet the owners of The Sausage Shoppe, Norm and Carol Heinle, their daughter Renee Close, and son Allen Heinle, longtime employee Dave, an Xavier grad who actually has a masters of theology degree. They invited me up on a Thursday, their production day, to see exactly how they do it.

For a foodie, this was pure heaven.

Their shop is very old school. Most equipment is from the 1940s, and they still do things the old way. The Sausage Shoppe started as Kirchberger Sausage in 1938 by Hans Kirchberger, a master sausage maker from Bavaria, Germany. It began just down the street from the current location at 4501 Memphis Avenue in Cleveland, very close to the zoo.

When Hans retired, he sold the shop to longtime employee Norm Heinle. The Heinles use many of the original recipes and stick to very basic, traditional methods of making sausage, kielbasa and the hams they are known for.

I was impressed by things like the “Bible” of recipes, all handwritten and very well used. I was also thrilled by the fresh spices and precise hand calculations made for each batch, of exactly how much freshly-ground spice to use for each sausage mixture.

I was amazed by the level of experience and knowledge in the room and how quickly they performed their tasks like the skilled artisans that they are.

There are five basic classic pieces of equipment they use, not counting their smoking chambers: the mixer, the grinder, the bowl cutter, the sausage-stuffer and the linker. In essence, this is everything I look for in a place I want to do business with: family-owned, locally-owned, artisan quality, caring and happy people, and high quality products with only fresh ingredients.

But back to their hams. The Sausage Shoppe was fortunate to be given the recipe, and the sole rights, to produce the famous Sheffler Hams from Canton Ohio’s Sheffler Meats, established in 1932.

When Millard and Norma Sheffler decided to retire in 2001, they came up and trained Norm to make their famous hams. The Sausage Shoppe has won four national awards and numerous state awards with this ham recipe, including Reserve Grand Champion in 2012.

These hams start as a freshly-butchered, 20-pound pork leg. They carefully remove the bone by hand, then begin the two-week process of dry-curing that turns it into a perfect, award-winning, 12-to-16-pound ham, which is smoked, fully cooked and ready for heating. They have these hams on hand year round, and also sell them whole, half, quartered, thick-sliced and vacuum-packed for those who want the awesome whole ham feast, but maybe there are just one or two of you. They also sell it thin sliced as part of their wonderful lunchmeat selection, all nitrate-, MSG- and filler-free.

One thing I know for sure, and the reason I am writing this column this week, if you want one of these awesome hams for Easter, you better place your order soon. The shop is not huge and capacity is limited.

But, as I have always said, when you start with amazing ingredients, you tend to get amazing results. And when your ham is made by a master sausage maker, who learned the trade from a master sausage maker, who employs people that have masters degrees and people who have been there for 18 years or so, you are bound to get a top notched product. They provide free glaze for whole, half and quarter hams, as well as glazing and cooking instructions.

Go to their website to get all the details: www.sausageshoppe.com, or better yet, call them at 216-351-5213.