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Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing
by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn

Book Description
The only book for home cooks offering a complete introduction to the craft.

Charcuterie—a culinary specialty that originally referred to the creation of pork products such as salami, sausages, and prosciutto—is true food craftsmanship, the art of turning preserved food into items of beauty and taste. Today the term encompasses a vast range of preparations, most of which involve salting, cooking, smoking, and drying. In addition to providing classic recipes for sausages, terrines, and pâtés, Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn expand the definition to include anything preserved or prepared ahead such as Mediterranean olive and vegetable rillettes, duck confit, and pickles and sauerkraut.

Ruhlman, co-author of The French Laundry Cookbook, and Polcyn, an expert charcuterie instructor at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, present 125 recipes that are both intriguing to professionals and accessible to home cooks, including salted, air-dried ham; Maryland crab, scallop, and saffron terrine; Da Bomb breakfast sausage; mortadella and soppressata; and even spicy smoked almonds. 50 line drawings.

Excellent Coverage of a Very Important technique. Buy It! (November 2005)
Reviewer: B. Marold (Bethlehem, PA United States)

Charcuterie by leading culinary journalist Michael Ruhlman and Charcuterie expert and chef, Brian Poleyn is the sort of book foodies should really be buying instead of the long parade of celebrity chef cookbooks to which we have been treated for the last several years. This joins on my shelf some other recent books on specialized cooking techniques such as Beth Hensperger's `Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook' and James Peterson's classic work on `Sauces'.

Before we go any further, you may want to get permission from your cardiologist to even open this book, as it is dedicated almost exclusively to techniques which make heavy use of both salt and fat. But even if both of these things are `streng verboten' from your diet, you will still get great pleasure from learning about this very, very old technique for food preservation and flavoring.

It struck me that the range of mastery with this technique seems to be almost the same as that of leavened bread. More exactly, it's greatest range lies in a band running through the center of Europe, sandwiched between the northern dominance of butter and the southern realm of king olive. One can almost plot a line from Spanish hams (Serrano) to Bayonne hams and other Charcuterie of southwestern France (see Paula Wolfert's great book on the subject) to the procuitto of Parma and San Daniele and the great Salume techniques of northern Italy to the sausages of Germany and their Westphalian hams. I hypothesize that this all arose out of the conjunction of the European hog raising tradition with the availability of salt from the Mediterranean. All this is pure conjecture, but it certainly frames the issue neatly, as the primacy of pork stops dead at the borders of Islam with their prohibitions against eating pork and their access to less abundant salt sources (The Mediterranean happens to be a lot saltier than the broader oceans beyond Europe).

One of the more interesting facts I discovered in this book is that pig husbandry originated with the Celts who taught it to the Romans. While other meats such as poultry and fatty fish have been traditionally raw material of Charcuterie techniques, it is the pig that rules in this world. This is because lard is much lighter (less saturated) than suet (beef fat) and there is a greater variety of flavor in the meat from one cut of the pig to the next. One aspect of the difference between lard and suet is that the former is really healthier since it is less highly saturated, but don't quote me as an authority on this to your doctor.

The heart and soul of Charcuterie is in the preparation of fresh and cured sausages, cured ham, terrines, pates, and confits. The stars are the pig and the duck. The lingua franca is fat, salt, and smoke. I will not argue with these experts on the sense of the word `Charcuterie', but I suspect they bring in a lot more material than many other authorities would include. The Larousse Gastronomique, for example, defines `Charcuterie' as techniques applied to products based on pork meat of offal. The authors choose to extend the term to include virtually all preservation techniques based on fat, salt, and smoke such as smoked and salted fish. They even take it so far as to include some products based on fermentation such as pickles and sauerkraut. None of this diminishes the value of the book. In fact, it makes the book more interesting, albeit just a tad less true to tradition. This drawing outside the lines also includes a very good essay on the techniques of brining that not only involves non-piggy meats; they also involve techniques that have nothing to do with preservation.

In other ways the authors, especially wordsmith Ruhlman, also show that they are relying heavily on the writings of others rather than having become an expert in the field themselves. For example, much of the chapter on salt is taken, with full credit being given, from Mark Kurlansky's excellent books on `Salt' and `Cod'. I was especially tickled when Ruhlman described salt as an especially concentrated form of the elements sodium and chloride. Chloride is not an element, but the ionized form of chlorine. And, aside from health concerns, the fact that salt is composed of sodium and chlorine is virtually irrelevant to culinary discussions. Salt, from a culinary point of view, is a basic ingredient.

I was positively tickled when Ruhlman stated that the methods of Charcuterie are NOT meant for quick cooking. He makes no bones about the fact that almost all Charcuterie techniques take a lot of time and a lot of attention to detail. This reinforces my analogy between Charcuterie and yeast baking.

The authors make a great case for the important answer to the question on why Charcuterie techniques are still used today in the age of freezing, vacuum packing, and refrigeration. The long and the short of it is the fact that sausages and ham and bacon and terrines and pates and confits taste so darn good. One may also ask the question of the survival of this technique an environment where fat and salt are tools of the devil. Like caffinated coffee, chocolate, and wine, deep research would probably show that Charcuterie products in moderation are also good for you. The only aspect of the Charcuterie technique that may have real health concerns is the substance hiding behind the innocent name `yellow salt'. This is not sodium chloride, but a combination of nitrates and nitrites, added to maintain color in preserved meats.

As I said at the outset, this book is probably more valuable to the dedicated foodie than two Nobu cookbooks and the collected works of Brillat-Savarin. The recipes for terrines and pates and the great technique illustrations are worth the price of admission. Both will become immediately more familiar if you realize that a meat loaf is merely an example of these techniques.

Excellent reading, too!

Move over Abe Frohman, Brian Polcyn is the Sausage King! (December 2005)
Reviewer: Julesagogo (Michigan, USA)

My husband and I have been patrons of Chef Brian Polcyn's Five Lakes Grill in Milford, MI for over a decade. The restaurant excels at the kind of full-flavored slow food that's found in this cookbook, and since we have sampled most of these SPECTACULAR recipes at the restaurant I was thrilled to get my hands on them in this book.

Containing recipes from simple cured meats like bacon and corned beef to elaborate terrines and dry-cured sausages to zingy condiments and accompaniments, this book is a veritable bible of salty, smoky, fatty deliciousness. If "Charcuterie" were simply a collection of recipes, it would still be a treasure, but what sets this cookbook apart is its readability. Even if you never intend to attempt any of these recipes on your own, it is still a dream of a read for foodies thanks to Michael Ruhlman's elegant yet accessible prose. I had to grin at his page-long tribute to the food-preservation techniques described in Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House in the Big Woods", since as a food fanatic this is the chapter I remember most fondly from one of my favorite childhood reads.

You also shouldn't hesitate to buy this book because you think charcuterie is too difficult. This is the only charcuterie cookbook I've found that is designed explicitly for the home cook, and there are plenty of simple recipes that require, to quote Chef Brian, "just pork and salt and time." More adventurous cooks will find options for smoking and dry curing. The detailed illustrations of various techniques and equipment (reminiscent of those in Cook's Illustrated) show you exactly what you need to do and what the food should look like. There are also tons of helpful hints that are missing from other charcuterie recipes I've tried (that have, not surprisingly, failed) to ensure success. For example, the book describes the necessity of aggressively seasoning meat destined for terrines because cold food tastes blander than hot food, as well as techniques for testing seasoning that best approximate what the finished product will taste like.

I haven't yet attempted any of these recipes, but I have worked with Brian's recipes in the past and had nothing but success. I expect the same for these. In fact, I'm headed to the store today in search of duck breast to try out the duck prosciutto recipe for the holidays. Calories and fat grams be damned, vive "Charcuterie"!

A fascinating read, very comprehensive (April 2006)
Reviewer: Amalfi Coast Girl (Mid-Atlantic, USA)

This review is written from the perspective of a very serious home cook that has been studying food and cooking for 25 years. If food is your hobby you will love this book.

The book is laid out in the following chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Recipes for Salt-Cured Food
3. Recipes for Smoked Food
4. Sausages
5. Recipes for Dry-Cured Food
6. Pates and Terrines
7. The Confit Technique
8. Recipes to accompany Charcuterie: sauces and condiments

Why does anyone need this book? No one does need it. But in my world there is a distinction between need and want. You will want this book once you see what is inside.

Mario Batali's "Molto Italiano" peaked my interest in curing meat with his recipe for Pancetta. This book covers any kind or cured meat that you can think of. It includes recipes for Pancetta, Salt Cod, Prosciutto, Corned Beef, Pastrami, Tasso Ham, Smoked Salmon and Mortadella just to name a few. With each turn of the page there is a new recipe to drool over. This book is almost addicting just to read.

The book covers the history of curing, gives many warnings about cleanliness and keeping foods cold. It even gives you sources for supplies, some of which might be difficult to find on your own.

My only complaint of this book is the lack of glossy photos that I have become so accustomed to in other books. This minor complaint is not enough to reduce the rating of this otherwise stellar effort.

In short I think this is a fabulous book. I read this book like most read a novel, only I think I enjoyed it more than that. If you ever wanted to know how to cure your own meat, this is the book for you. HIGHLY recommend.

The BEST Curing Book I have found (March 2006)
Reviewer: Jeffrey L. Thomas

This is a wonderful book. The best I have found on the subject matter. Great detail, history, and a ton of informative pictures.

Offering contemporary techniques expanding on traditional concepts, and making the art accessible to the average home cook (March 2006)
Reviewer: Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)

Relatively few cookbooks cover all the basics of charcuterie, which involve curing: that's why the comprehensive Charcuterie: The Craft Of Salting, Smoking And Curing is so important for any serious cook or cookbook collection. It reflects the author's passion for these techniques of preservation and provides the only comprehensive book on the topic, including all the classic charcuterie recipes for sausages, poultry, and meats under one cover, offering contemporary techniques expanding on traditional concepts, and making the art accessible to the average home cook. No color photos, but the focus here is on instruction and recipes, not glitz - and Charcuterie's importance doesn't lack for color.

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