Redondo’s / If reading the sub-head of this article didn’t make you giggle, perhaps you’re missing out. Or maybe you’re just a mature individual.

After going through a mental vault of sausage jokes, then blatantly ignoring the idiom of how one should never want to see how sausage is made, a sausage factory tour was in order for–what else?–a sausage party. Figuratively speaking. And what better factory to tour than the iconic Redondo’s? Famed for its red (very, very red) Hawaiian Winners hot dogs since 1949, Redondo’s has since expanded its offerings to include Portuguese sausage, pipikaula and arabiki– Japanese-style coarse-ground sausages.

In the white room

The factory in Waipahu is smaller than one would think, considering the company’s long history. But the family-sized factory helps add to the local charm and seemingly honest nature that old, local businesses can have.

The entrance leads into a narrow, sterile-looking hallway filled with locked doors sporting “Employees Only” signs, including one for a small laboratory. While the white and neutral-colored decor screams security and cleanliness, a sausage spice mix smell fills the air. Is it paprika? Cayenne pepper? The factory smells promising. The seasoned meat must be close!

But before hitting the factory floor, Redondo’s president, Hitoshi Okada, and plant manager, Levi Maon, take the Weekly to sit in a white room, which another staffer swabs down with disinfectant wipes first. It almost feels like an interrogation room, except the Weekly is the one asking questions. And friendly ones, at that. As the question-and-answer session goes on, it’s apparent that the Weekly isn’t a rival sausage company in disguise, poised to steal 61 years worth of meat secrets. So the company reps warm up. And it’s clear that they believe in their products.

Very few people know the exact ingredients of Redondo’s meat treats. Not even all of the managers do. Measures are taken to ensure that things like custom-made spice mixes arrive pre-mixed. When asked about the red color of the Hawaiian Winners, the answer from Okada, is that it’s a “trade secret.” But he does let on that the color is more than just color: It also plays a part in the flavor.

The mystery is part of the tradition, with the company keeping founder Frank Redondo’s original recipes for the products he developed. “We want to keep the local food culture in Hawaii alive,” says Okada.

With this local food culture comes a relationship with the customers, as well. Redondo’s is willing to create custom orders for patrons who can pick them up at the factory. Some of the requests include meat products made without MSG or for products sliced a certain way.

With summer barbecue season approaching, Okada and Maon know that the Hawaiian Winners sales will be up. They also note that pipikaula is popular during New Year’s celebrations. And overall, sales of all Redondo’s products increase each year.

On the floor

“It’s going to be cold,” warns Maon as he hands over a hair net, white coat and shoe coverings after the session in the white room is over. The air, while cold to keep the meat at a sanitary temperature, smells clean. Thoughts of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle come to mind before entering the floor, even though a factory processing frozen meat isn’t quite as graphic as a slaughterhouse. In fact, there’s not much to look at in terms of guts and gore. “Safety is most important,” emphasize both Maon and Okada. A USDA inspector goes to the factory every day, and Redondo’s also chooses to employ a third-party inspector on a monthly basis.

The cement floors are constantly awash with water or sanitizer.

“I can eat off the floor,” says Maon. The machinery is shining clean. The meat that’s been imported from North America (there isn’t a local distributor large enough for the Redondo’s demand) is already processed, frozen and neatly packaged when it arrives at Redondo’s. The factory is brightly lit. Many employees have been working for the company for 30 or even 40 years. Maon, having only been at Redondo’s for a year, already says, “I hope to work here until I retire.”

In the late afternoon, production for the hot dogs and Portuguese sausage has been completed. One part of the factory has people and machinery manufacturing the arabiki. Because the arabiki uses a natural lamb intestine casing–as opposed to the collagen casing for the Portuguese sausage or the cellulose casing that is removed from the hot dogs after cooking (hence the distinctive seam along the length)–the process is slower and more delicate, as the casing is soft and doesn’t stay rigid. A worker gently guides the casing onto the stuffing tube after the meat has been defrosted, processed and mixed. With this manufacturing procedure, 20 arabiki links can be produced per minute. Hot dogs, on the other hand, can be produced at a rate of 180 per minute, shooting out of the machine like torpedos.

After six racks of arabiki have been produced, they go into a double-doored oven for cooking, then through a shower cycle to start the cooling process, then off to a cooling room. After packaging is complete, products either go into a cold storage room to be shipped soon after, or to the freezer for longer-term storage.

While the recipes have largely remained the same, some technology in the past few years has made sausage production safer, faster and easier. The meat goes through a bone remover before being stuffed into the casing. And after packaging, the products go through a metal detector.

The arabiki is Redondo’s newest product, having been introduced to the market a few years ago, and Okada and Maon hint that a new product will be available this summer. Something “for health-conscious people.” Is it something vegetarian? Lower in fat or salt? Whatever it is, you can be sure it will still be in the vein of Hawaii’s local food traditions. And it will probably be damn tasty fresh off the grill.

Now you know what to bring to the next sausage fest.

Redondo’s

94-140 Leokane St.

[redondos.com], 671-5444

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