Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing Hardcover – November 17, 2005

Jane Grigson wrote the fundamental overview of charcuterie, and, under her influence, Fergus Henderson shared a handful of incredibly delicious recipes out of the charcuterie tradition. Filling the gap between them, as I see it, is Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's Charcuterie, an excellent, balanced, enthusiastic cookbook that steers home cooks into the fundamentals of meat preparations. The book is encouraging evidence that a significant number of Americans have awakened to the pleasures of well-prepared meat. This isn't a fringe publication: it is a beautifully-designed, well-written, premium production. And it's about time.

This book does something fundamentally right: it completely eschews the Joy of Cooking model of everything-under-one-roof cookbooks. It assumes that the reader has focused interests and is dedicated to food. It acknowledges that the food trades were [and sometimes still are] highly technical, and best performed by specialists. Though we might as well give up the possibility of becoming first-class charcutiers unless we're willing to give up our careers and pursue it full-time, we can find some real satisfaction in a book like this. It presents, in a clear, well-organized, concise format, the wisdom of a great charcutier, explained by a great writer. That wisdom, those years of experience, is evident in the clearest way once you begin using this book: the recipes are easy to follow, well-suited to the home kitchen, and, happily, result in meat products that are better than anything you can buy in an American supermarket. Far better. Even the more daunting preparations, the ones involving aging and cold-smoking, for example, prove to be remarkably accessible and easy. Some will take more space than you or I have in the kitchen, but there are many recipes that produce amazing food with surprisingly little effort. The beef Chicago-style hot dogs are pretty quick once you have everything lined up, and they are so much better than store-bought dogs that you will hardly believe the difference. Some other recipes require more elaborate set-ups, even dedicated smokers and dedicated meat grinders, but there is plenty here that's accessible to the average home cook with the average kitchen. The biggest challenge, as usual, is finding the right cuts of meat to do these recipes justice. Count on making substitutions, and hope that some young person finds this book in time to begin his apprenticeship to the likes of Brian Polcyn, and returns to open shop in your neighborhood. Have the cardiologist over to dinner. Live a little.

If you order this book, be sure to consider Jane Grigson's Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery and Fergus Henderson's The Whole Beast, both of which I have reviewed for Amazon.

Note: This review is based on my specific interests for buying this book, and may not be relevant to all readers. I was looking for information about making cured and smoked products such as bacon, smoked pork hocks, corned beef etc - foods that require sodium nitrites. Little has been published for the home cook regarding this topic - specifically, the minimum amounts needed for a given recipe without risking botulism.

If you're concerned about nitrite intake and are a kitchen novice, I wouldn't recommend this book. Although I feel it contains worthy information to rate 5 stars, accessing and interpreting that information can be confusing:

Information is illogically laid out and confusing, such as:
- the informative chapter on salt, starts on page 30, then on page 35 suddenly discusses buying a whole pig, then returns back to salt on page 38.
- The recipe for Cured Salmon (pp. 50-52) is illustrated with a page for preparing Smoked Salmon, but that recipe is on pg. 96.

There is contradictory and confusing information, such as:
- a reference to Bruce Aidell's procedure for Canadian Bacon, suggesting adding 2 teaspoons of cure (nitrite mix) to an All Purpose Brine recipe found on pg. 60. But on page 88, the recipe actually calls for 8 teaspoons - a 4x difference. [Note: Aidell's recipe in Complete Book of Pork calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons.]
- The recipes call for cooking pork to an internal temperature of 150 degrees. But the Recommended Temperatures (pg. 62) states "130-140 degrees... for a finished temp. of 140-145." And the 150 degrees doesn't refer to stop-cooking temp or finished temp.

The recipes tend to be overly generic: Do ham hocks (almost all bone) really require the same amount of nitrites as boneless pork loin (all meat and with water content which dilutes the nitrites)? If yes, why?

While I would not hesitate to buy this book again, I would recommend reading it completely, taking notes as you go, and compiling the information that you need. In other words, you become the book editor. My own copy is littered with post-its.

If you do buy this book, I would also recommend: Paul Bertolli's "Cooking by Hand", which contains a specific how-and-why discussion on using nitrites; and Aidell's "Complete Book of Pork", so that you can make your own conclusions.

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.