First a quick note on lunch.
Sour dough toast with Gorgonzola Creamosa and Mostarda Mantovana di Pere. I am not real sure what Gorgonzola Creamosa is, I will check with The Cheese Pimp. I can describe it. It's a really creamy gorgonzola that is a little chunky, smooth like, and just a bit thicker than, cream cheese, with that distinct blue cheese tang. It goes really well with the pear moostaaard (French accent). Chased it with an Ugly Cookie from Country Manor Bakery in Hendersonville.
Charcuterie. I was never hooked on phonics and if I had been I don't think it would have helped, because this is a distinctly french word - from the French chaircuicterie : chair, meat + cuict, cuit, cooked... so literally cooked meat, is pronounced shar-koo-ta-ree. Its broader meaning typically refers to pâté, sausage, ham, or other processed meats. Bacon for example, or salami. It can also refer to the store were one might find a person making and selling such products.
So what's all the hubbub about. I just received, in my grubby little paws, a copy of "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, and I am all flustered by the prospect of smoking, brining, pickling and salting all manner of animal flesh.
I am sooo distracted, like a kid with a new toy.
I have to go read this book now. Preferably cover to cover, more than once. As soon as I have used the skills learnt in this tome I will share.
Cheers
Chris
2 comments:
It is not necessary to read Charcuterie cover to cover to begin. One of the first recipes is for bacon, and includes a varient which doesn't require smoking.
My wife, who does most of our cooking, is very happy with the four pounds I produced earlier this year.
You do need pork belly, which may require some looking and I think you need pink salt, which Ruhlman gives sources for and you can also find them on my blog.
And if you do get into fermented sausage, I can pass on a tip from delGrasso which will save you a fair bit of money.
The misspelling in the bog name is intentional as the properly spell domain wasn't available.
There is a logical reason for reading the book cover to cover... I have a habit of digging just far enough into a cook book to find something I want to make, then I skip all over the place within the book don't get everything out of the book I could have.
Bacon and Sausage are first on my list though.
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