How a pellet tube smoker is simple, there are quite a few different ways that you can use it, which I want to go over. I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with pellet tube smoking both cold smoking and hot smoking on various different types of smokers for 20 years. I looked around for the right type of …
How to Cure Meat for Long-Term Storage (Various Methods)
I’ve used, taught, and come across many different techniques on how to cure meat for long-term preservation and storage. This website is about dry curing and smoking meat, I’ve delved into learning and practicing preserved long-term storage versions in case I didn’t have any refrigeration. These are simple techniques for salting and curing meat that have been used for preservation …
How Does Charcuterie Work? (Dry Cured Meats & Preserving)
So how does this thing called charcuterie work? This is something that gets asked often around here. What are the main reasons why it’s different from fresh meat, or bacon. You’ve come to the right place. I’ve been passionate about charcuterie for decades, and it still fascinates me, so I will give you a quick answer and then dive into …
What Does Charcuterie Taste Like? (Cured & Smoked Meats)
The tastes of charcuterie vary greatly; I will describe all categories I have eaten, researched, judged, taught, and made at home. Traditional salumi or charcuterie, like cold smoked meats and dry cured meats, have a high level of ‘umami,’ a balanced ‘savory’ flavor. Many cured types of meat, such as prosciutto and pancetta, use salt to preserve; they are cut …
Some Charcuterie Idea Recipes for Beginners (Meat Curing & Smoking)
When you start with charcuterie as a beginner it can seem overwhelming with all the variations out there, in our very online connected world (low information diet is the key I reckon). The definition of charcuterie encompasses a lot more than dry-cured meats for most people, which I guess now becomes whatever you want to highlight your charcuterie board (but …
Is Charcuterie Processed Meat? (Dry Cured Meat)
Charcuterie and processed meat are quite poorly defined because most of them have been deemed different by different organizations and people. Charcuterie can be dry-cured meat such as dry-cured salami and whole muscle. Like genoa salami, prosciutto, and pancetta. It’s also traditionally ham, rillettes, pates, and offal-based cooked meats from a French charcuterie perspective. It involves a process but may …
How Much Curing Salt Per Pound of Meat? (Tool & Calculator)
This calculator below is all about equilibrium curing either with a dry or wet cure. Meat Curing Calculator Tool Method Equilibrium Dry Curing or Equilibrium Wet Brining Meat Weight lb kg g Pink curing salt % Salt % Water % % Calculations Pink Curing Salt 1.59 g or 0.056 oz (optional depending on preference or recipe) Sea Salt 15.88 g …
Online Charcuterie Course – Crafting Dry-Cured Meat
This post is going to give you an overview of my online charcuterie course and aspects of what’s covered. The methodology is summarized into one program with tools, recipes, and ‘cheatsheets’ for at-home charcuterie (including my secret ‘not so secret’ garlic & juniper bacon. Combining traditional and modern techniques, there is nothing like this online, so it’s incredibly exciting to …
At-Home Temperature and Humidity for Dry Curing Fridge
Since curing meat in a curing chamber is a craft, temperature, and humidity do not have to be exact, but more so I found through experience, within a range. When I started off and built my first meat-curing chamber over 15 years ago, I did a lot of research and read quite a lot of books to make sure I …
Ideas and Inspiration for a Charcuterie Board
Different Accompanients, dips & spreads are a great way to enhance any charcuterie board. I want to create a helpful resource that covers inspiration, classic pairings, and suggestions for many styles and types. Key Points: Umami and savory flavors are always sought after when making a charcuterie board, so I have a few tips to bring to the next level. …
Refrigeration Guidelines for Charcuterie, Salami, and Cured Meats
Below, you’ll find a table summarizing each cured meat and details on how to store it. Here are the general tips. Storage Tips: Cured meat is a big category, and what you need to keep in the fridge depends on whether it’s cured meat or charcuterie. I love charcuterie (link to charcuterie/dry cured meats category list on this site) and …
Popularity and History of Charcuterie
Key Points Classical French charcuterie is a mixture of cured meats highlighting preservation or flavor enhancement. Based often on meat. Modern charcuterie has a broad definition covering many types of platters with meat, non-meat, sweet treats, and condiments. The contemporary interpretation has been morphed by many content providers and commercial operators. I’ve studied, created, researched, and worked around charcuterie for …
How to Make Charcuterie at Home (Ideas with Overview)
It’s a fascinating world when you start making charcuterie at home; there are many ways how to go about it, and, of course, it depends on what you want to have a go with. Charcuterie Projects Difficulty and Duration Pate /Rillettes 2/10 2-4 hours Vegetable Preserves/Flavoring 2/10 15-60 mins Cold Smoke Vegetables 3/10 30-60 mins Hot Smoked Fish, Meat 4/10 …
Different Salami and Do You Cook Them? ( Uncured, Genoa & Beef Salami)
I’ve made every variation of salami, and some are ready to eat; however, this happens after the salami is dried. Any salami you buy should be ready to eat. Ready-to-eat salami is found all over the world, but there are some variations that I thought need to be clarified. It seems a few marketing/packaging people have confused quite a few …
The Delicious World of Cured Meat: Can Cured Meat be Keto
Cured meat has many forms, and keto is a diet that has some cross-over, it needs some explaining, however. I’ve been involved in keto as a lifestyle and personally tried many of the other diets and lifestyle programs. Summary Since I have a deeper understanding of cured meats than most folks, here is, hopefully, some helpful information that elaborates since …
What is Dry Cured Meat? Dry Cured Bacon, Ham, Sausage
One of my passions is dry curing meat it an old craft that can create amazing results, I get asked a lot about what is dry curing meat, many people think it has something to do with smoked meat. Sometimes, it does get smoked, but most of the time, it doesn’t, depending on the recipe and outcomes one desires. Definition: …
How to Cure Wild Game Meat (Know How, Pictures & Tips)
When I first started curing wild game meat a few decades ago, I based my ideas on the techniques used for lean, dry curing, and Italian recipes. The results were fantastic! At the end of the day, meat is meat, and wild meat is generally leaner. Curing the meat allows a whole other level of appreciation from what you harvest …
How To Cure Meat to Make Jerky & Biltong (with Pictures)
Jerky and biltong are similar in some ways, whilst also being different. I want to highlight how I do both methods in detail. I don’t often buy much red meat; I use a lot of venison and other red meats, which I harvest and cure to make cured meats, and I definitely love making jerky and biltong. I’ve made dozens …
Getting to Know the Main Ingredients for Curing Meat
The main ingredients for curing meats vary between the styles and methods, but one ingredient is always sea salt. I love all the different styles I have discovered for cured meat and use rivals in them at home. I’ve savored many years making recipes and using the craft of cold smoking, hot smoking, low & slow to dry curing meats. …
Steps on How to Cure Meat with Salt (with Pictures)
There are a handful of methods to cure meat with salt, I’ve studied and tried many of them. Curing meat has so many different variations; the meat curing world is infinitely much larger than Italian classic salami or salumi. This post is an overview to explain each step and how I use salt to cure meat in different ways. When …