An Easy Comfort Food Picnic
June 20, 2012
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Dallas
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A Quick Look at Charcuterie
You may have never heard of the word charcuterie before, but unless you’re a lifelong vegetarian, you’ve definitely tasted it. If you’re already a student at our Boston cooking school, then you’ve probably even made it. So what is it?
In short, charcuterie is the art of preserving meat, particularly pork, but any meat can be used. It comes from the French term cuiseur de chair or “cooker of meat.”Charcuterie covers a wide range of cooking styles and includes everything from deli meats to sausages to advanced preparations of pâtés and terrines.
Charcuterie Products
When you fire up the grill for a cookout this summer, chances are you’ll cook a hot dog or two. If so, you’ll be eating charcuterie. If you’re a culinary school student and you’ve made a galantine, then you’ve made charcuterie. Going to ditch work or class and see an afternoon double header with your best buds? Sounds like fun, especially if you have some charcuterie in the form of a grilled brat. As you can see, charcuterie is pretty much everywhere. Let’s take a look at some of its most common preparations.
- Sausage
Hot dogs, kielbasa, bratwurst, breakfast links, boudin, Andouille, and chorizo are just some of the hundreds of types of sausages. Ground meats (especially pork), spices, and salt are forced into casings to make sausage. They can either be sold pre-cooked like hot dogs or raw like breakfast sausage.
- Cured Meats
Whether by salt or by sugar, curing is a way to preserve meat to extend its shelf life. It began in early Roman times as a way to preserve meats for the traveling Roman armies. While it eventually became popular with poorer populations as a way to have meat in the winter, it is now an art form practiced by some of the world greatest chefs. Bacon is probably the most well-known cured meat product.
- Pates, Terrines, and Galantine
With these sophisticated preparations, charcuterie really rises to the level of art. Meat and fat mixture are placed into molds and cooked. They can be very elaborate preparations that include several types of charcuterie products or simple one-meat mixtures that concentrate on developing the flavor of the single ingredient. Galantines are chicken breasts that are layered and rolled with another types of forcemeat to make pinwheels when sliced and served.
- Fermented Meats
This may sound horrible, but fermented meats are popular in nearly every type of cuisine around the world, particularly in the Mediterranean regions of Italy, France, and Spain. The most famous type of fermented meat is Italian salumi which includes meats like prosciutto, salami, mortadella, and pancetta.
- Cold Cuts
Yes, your favorite deli bologna or Black Forrest ham are both types of charcuterie. Most deli meats are removed from the bone, mixed with salt and other seasonings, pressed into loaves, and then cooked before being sent to deli counters around the country.
Eating just about any type of processed meat is eating charcuterie. So the next time you serve cocktail wieners at a party, show off a little and call them charcuterie. Everyone will want the recipe.
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Boston. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Boston offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training programs in the Boston, Massachusetts area. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Boston for more information.
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