Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Charcuterie: What it is, why it is still useful as well as the reasons why I enjoy it
Charcuterie: What it is, why it is still useful as well as the reasons
why I enjoy it
Charcuterie is the art-yes craft of preparing as well as preserving
meat, primarily pork. You might think you have not had it, however
unless you were raised in a vegetarian family, you've in all likelihood
had it thousands of times. American charcuterie, regrettably has become
commercialized, beaten into submission, and the final result is sausage
which shrinks whenever you place it in a heated griddle, "bologna" that
does not actually look like a accurate bologna, as well as hotdogs that
i might not feel safe feeding to my pet dog.
All is not lost. In recent years, there has been a renaissance
of sorts, starting in classical french bistros and slowly dispersing to
the masses. If you so choose, you can now purchase real prosciutto di
parma in addition to soppressata from the deli counter in many high-end
food markets. And folks DO purchase it! In the event that you are
reading this and thinking "Why would I spend $12 per lb on dried out,
uncooked pork?" then maybe you should stop reading this, visit the
store and buy some. Not a pound, not necessarily a half lb. Buy 2
slices. Paper thin. Try them and your concerns will certainly be
clarified. if everybody in the united states did that, this country
would be a far better place. A much better place with less fastfood
eateries and more artisanal food items. If I'm able to aid, even just
in a tiny way in order to make that a reality, then I would have
achieved my objective.
Charcuterie has its roots inside the very foundations of
civilization, in mesopotamia and the fertile crescent. With out the
cabability to preserve meats from slaughtered livestock, a reliable
supply of protein is extremely tough to come by. What started as need
with time became an art form. Getting a cut of pork and curing it, then
drying it slowly and gradually for weeks, or cold smoking it to be able
to slow down microbial growth offers an unintentional side-effect. It
changes the taste, texture and quality of the meat itself. It takes a
regular cut of meat and transforms it in to some thing unique. The 15th
century french charcutier was probably the first business to take this
business and elevate it to an art. These people were not allowed to
market raw pork, so to be able to have more shoppers they started to
prepare, cure, stuff, and smoke pork goods in exciting new techniques.
6 hundred years later, we have confit de canard, prosciutto di parma,
and all manner of dry and/or emulsified sausages as a result of those
engenius artisans.
why I enjoy it
Charcuterie is the art-yes craft of preparing as well as preserving
meat, primarily pork. You might think you have not had it, however
unless you were raised in a vegetarian family, you've in all likelihood
had it thousands of times. American charcuterie, regrettably has become
commercialized, beaten into submission, and the final result is sausage
which shrinks whenever you place it in a heated griddle, "bologna" that
does not actually look like a accurate bologna, as well as hotdogs that
i might not feel safe feeding to my pet dog.
All is not lost. In recent years, there has been a renaissance
of sorts, starting in classical french bistros and slowly dispersing to
the masses. If you so choose, you can now purchase real prosciutto di
parma in addition to soppressata from the deli counter in many high-end
food markets. And folks DO purchase it! In the event that you are
reading this and thinking "Why would I spend $12 per lb on dried out,
uncooked pork?" then maybe you should stop reading this, visit the
store and buy some. Not a pound, not necessarily a half lb. Buy 2
slices. Paper thin. Try them and your concerns will certainly be
clarified. if everybody in the united states did that, this country
would be a far better place. A much better place with less fastfood
eateries and more artisanal food items. If I'm able to aid, even just
in a tiny way in order to make that a reality, then I would have
achieved my objective.
Charcuterie has its roots inside the very foundations of
civilization, in mesopotamia and the fertile crescent. With out the
cabability to preserve meats from slaughtered livestock, a reliable
supply of protein is extremely tough to come by. What started as need
with time became an art form. Getting a cut of pork and curing it, then
drying it slowly and gradually for weeks, or cold smoking it to be able
to slow down microbial growth offers an unintentional side-effect. It
changes the taste, texture and quality of the meat itself. It takes a
regular cut of meat and transforms it in to some thing unique. The 15th
century french charcutier was probably the first business to take this
business and elevate it to an art. These people were not allowed to
market raw pork, so to be able to have more shoppers they started to
prepare, cure, stuff, and smoke pork goods in exciting new techniques.
6 hundred years later, we have confit de canard, prosciutto di parma,
and all manner of dry and/or emulsified sausages as a result of those
engenius artisans.
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