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.