In The Charcuterie

Book excerpt: A definitive resource for the modern meat lover, with 125 recipes and fully-illustrated step-by-step instructions for making brined, smoked, cured, skewered, braised, rolled, tied, and stuffed meats at home; plus a guide to sourcing, butchering, and cooking with the finest cuts. The tradition of preserving meats is one of the oldest of all the food arts. Nevertheless, the craft charcuterie movement has captured the modern imagination, with scores of charcuteries opening across the country in recent years, and none is so well-loved and highly regarded as the San Francisco Bay Area’s Fatted Calf. In this much-anticipated debut cookbook, Fatted Calf co-owners and founders Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller present an unprecedented array of meaty goods, with recipes for salumi, pâtés, roasts, sausages, confits, and everything in between. A must-have for the meat-loving home cook, DIY-types in search of a new pantry project, and professionals looking to broaden their repertoire, In the Charcuterie boasts more than 125 recipes and fully-illustrated instructions for making brined, smoked, cured, skewered, braised, rolled, tied, and stuffed meats at home, plus a primer on whole animal butchery. Take your meat cooking to the next level: Start with a whole hog middle, stuff it with a piquant array of herbs and spices, then roll it, tie it, and roast it for a ridiculously succulent, gloriously porky take on porchetta called The Cuban. Or, brandy your own prunes at home to stuff a decadent, caul fat–lined Duck Terrine. If it’s sausage you crave, follow Boetticher and Miller’s step-by-step instructions for grinding, casing, linking, looping, and smoking your own homemade Hot Links or Kolbász. With its impeccably tested recipes and lush, full-color photography, this instructive and inspiring tome is destined to become the go-to reference on charcuterie—and a treasure for anyone fascinated by the art of cooking with and preserving meat.