By Ray Isle
August 20, 2007

Actually, the whole quote is "Born in the woods, raised in adversity, aged with fire and smoke." I'm not sure exactly what that refers to, but it's the motto of Smith's Log Smokehouse in Monroe, ME (actually the smoke part makes sense; it's the adversity bit I'm unclear on). My suggestion, regarding Smith's, is that you get on over to their website and order a "whole log," as they put it, of their intensely smoky, porky Soppressata–it'll run you under twenty bucks, and, from recent personal experience, it goes amazingly well with both Zinfandel and Barolo. While you're at it, a slab of their blackstrap bacon (processed with molasses instead of sugar, and no nitrates) won't hurt your tastebuds either.