/r/Charcuterie
Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit.
Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork. Charcuterie is part of the garde manger chef's repertoire. Originally intended as a way to preserve meat before the advent of refrigeration, they are prepared today for their flavors derived from the preservation processes.
We'd hope that you join our community to discuss and share techniques, recipes, procedures, step by step directions, and other knowledge used to create, or in the process of creating and making charcuterie at home.
If you are posting a picture of a charcuterie plate please take time to read the rules:
- No "nibble plates" - the focus must be on the charcuterie.
- Any images of charcuterie platters must be accompanied by a description of the contents in the comments or they will be removed.
- It is strongly encouraged that if you are posting a charcuterie platter it contains your own handmade products. Store bought items that have been arranged on a platter, or pictures of a platter you were served at a restaurant will be removed if they don't add to meaningful discussion.
Pictures of random platters or nibble plates belong in /r/FoodPorn.
/r/Charcuterie Resources Master List
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Related subreddits:
“He was almost at the corner of the rue Piroutees, and the [charcuterie] shop was a joy to behold. It was filled with laughter and bright light and brilliant colors that popped out next to the white of the marble countertops. The signboard, on which the name QUENU-GRADELLE glittered in fat gilt lettering encircled by leaves and branches painted on a soft-hued background, was protected by a sheet of glass. On the two side panels of the shop front, similarly painted and under glass, were chubby little Cupids playing in the midst of boars' heads, pork chops, and strings of sausages; and these still lifes, adorned with scrolls and rosettes, had been designed in such a pretty and tender a style that the raw meat lying there assumed the reddish tint of raspberry preserves. Within this lovely frame was the window display on a bed of delicately shredded blue paper, with a few well-placed sprigs of fern making plates of food look like bouquets with greenery. It was a world of good things, mouthwatering things, rich things.
Down below, close to the windowpane, was a row of crocks filled with rillettes alternating with pots of mustard. The next row were some nice round boned jambonneau hams with golden breadcrumb coatings and adorned at the knuckles with green rosettes. Behind these were large platters: stuffed Strasbourg tongues all red and looking as if they had been varnished, appearing almost bloody next to the pale sausages and pigs feet; boudin coiled like snakes; andouilles piled two by two and plump with health; saucissons in silvery casings lined up like choirboys; pates, still warm, with little labels stuck on them like flags; big, fat hams; thick cuts of veal and pork whose juices had jellied clear as crystallized candy.
In the back were other tureens and earthenware casseroles in which minced and sliced meats slept under blankets of fat. Between the plates and dishes, on a bed of blue paper, were pickling jars of sauces and stocks and preserved truffles, terrines of foie gras, and tines of tuna and sardines. A box of creamy cheeses and one full of wood snails stuffed with butter and parsley had been dropped in opposite corners.
Finally, falling from a bar with sharp prongs, strings of sausages and saveloys hung down symmetrically like the cords and tassels of some opulent tapestry, while behind, threads of caul were stretched out like white lacework. On the highest rung in this temple of gluttony, amid the membranes and between two tall bunches of purple gladiolus flowers, the window was crowned by a small, square aquarium decorated with rocks and housing two goldfish that never stopped swimming.
The sight gave Florent goose bumps."
― Émile Zola, The Belly of Paris, 1873
/r/Charcuterie
92,628 Subscribers
Monthly /r/Charcuterie Discussion thread
What projects are you working on at the moment? Have a small problem but don't want to create a post? Found a Charcuterie related meme? Just want to chat? This is r/Charcuterie's monthly free discussion thread.
For beginner questions and links don't forget to check out the FAQ (https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/cmy8gp/rcharcuterie_faq_and_beginners_guide_to_cured_and/) .
14:00 UTC
Fermentation help
Hi im fermenting some sausage used 2% dextrose and appx 2.5 teaspoons of Flavor of İtaly about 10kgs/22pounds Fermenting in a box wrapped with cling film and have a test piece wrapped aswell. Has been at about 25c/77c for 18 hours.
Used cure 1 and salt etc all per normal.
The test piece is still fairly soft and doesnt have that bounce or color as normal. Starter is good and fresh from what i know recently opened it. Frozen vac packed. İ hydrated it prior.
PH is about 5.3 ATM
Any ideas why still soft
06:38 UTC
Smoked leg of lamb/sheep, HELP! how to air dry?
Hello there!
Recently I (cold) smoked a lamb/sheep leg for 7 days. Now I'm planning to preserve it through air drying till i've got at least 30% weight loss (I read everywhere thats a holy benchmark). Now this is my first time ever, I live in Sweden and currently the temperatures ranges from -3 to 3 degrees celcius on the day to -10 to 1 degrees clecius during the night. The overal humidity swings around 70/80%. Now the question is, if i want to (air) dry the leg, do i need to let it hang for a long period of time outside (is that possible with temperatures below 0), can i hang it up inside or is that to warm? Any help would be awesome to kickstart my adventure towards some nice airdryed meat!
19:00 UTC
Question about a curing environment and the type of salt used.
For years i've helped my grandfather make hot sopressata. I've always just followed his lead he always hung in the garage and he'd just used regular table salt. He is 95 and is giving me all the stuff that we use. He wants to do everything at my house moving forward. Which i love and am so exited to keep making it. Now because of this i'm doing a bunch of research and i'm realizing that his methods may not have been the best. We live in NY and do our curing in the winter, so i think the garage is not a bad place. (no car in the garage btw just tools and storage) But we never regulated the humidity and as for the temp he'd just make sure it didn't get below freezing in the garage. We never weighed it before or after he went by feel to know if it was done. As far the salt it seems like we should be using cure #2. I'm just curious how imperative these things are? Open to all advice and input. Thanks
18:45 UTC
Follow up query on Charcuterie Software
Hi r/Charcuterie
As a follow up to this recent post I am wondering whether there would be any interest for us to expand the functionality of our batch management software, Batch Radar, so that it is optimised for record keeping and compliance management within the charcuterie industry?
Is that something any of you would be interested in using?
00:40 UTC
A bit of the dramatic for you this Thanksgiving
20:59 UTC
My first coppa!
20:51 UTC
The holidays are for (home cured) meat!
Starting clockwise from the figs: salame picante, speck, spicy coppa, pancetta tesa, and fennel coppa
17:19 UTC
Help! Hair on pig head
The hair/follicle can’t be torched off or shaved because it’s below the surface of the skin. It’s not sticking out enough to be tweezed. Should I warm water and scrap the skin? Not sure how much will come off by doing this.😓. Was planning on roasting slow and low for several hours and finishing at high temp to crisp the skin.
Any methods or ideas would be greatly appreciated 👍
21:57 UTC
Dumb beginner question - can charcuterie be hung and cheese aged in the same aging chamber?
I'm an intermediate hobby cheesemaker and I have a DIY cheese cave made from a big dorm fridge and a temp controller. I have plans to make a cheese that ages in the same temp/humidity range as the 'Beginner's Whole Muscle Cure Tenderloin' found in this sub's FAQ (https://charcuteriemaster.com/2017/05/03/beginners-whole-muscle-cure-tenderloin/).
Would it be a cross-contamination risk to hang this tenderloin in the same chamber that I'm aging my cheese in? (I would, of course, make sure the two don't touch and wash my hands/tools in between to avoid any cross-contamination via touch).
17:39 UTC
Insufficient Curing Time for “City Ham”?
Hi all, I followed this recipe to cure a pork shoulder like a ham: https://afarmishkindoflife.com/home-cured-brine-a-ham/
I follow the recipe exactly and even cured a day longer than directed due to life getting busy. After I smoked the pork (to 180°, which is my go to when I want sliced pork shoulder), I let it cool completely and sliced it. Does the grey band in the center mean it didn’t have enough time to cure? I also assume it’s still fine to eat since it was cooked to 180°?
16:21 UTC
Adding sugar to cured meatr after few days?
I started curing meat. We usually never use sugar, but wnated to try this year on a portion to compare.
But forgot..
Can I add it now when I rearange and move the meat and add the rest of the salt?
Or is it late now that bacterial fauna has already started developing without sugar?
15:32 UTC
Culatello huge success!
First homemade Culatello. Aged for 12 months. Melts in your mouth…
15:30 UTC
Charcuterie board
Everything homemade: Bresaola, Lardo, Capocollo, Salami, Prosciutto, Pancetta
15:29 UTC
Kombucha brine
I’m getting ready to make my own ham for Xmas and originally planned to use hard cider as part of the brine.
I brew a lot of my own kombucha and thought about switching out the cider for my apple, lemon and ginger kombucha. Can you see any potential issues with this? Would I swap it out 1:1 in volume? And would it affect the curing time?
12:38 UTC
Has anyone gotten sick from eating one of their projects?
As the title says, I’m curious if anyone here has actually gotten sick after trying one of their projects?
Did you know before you tried it that you were gunna risk it for the biscuit or was it a surprise?
Was it mold or something else?
05:02 UTC
Curing beef for the first time...questions!!
I've done pork a few times (Pancetta and prosciutto). Currently following a recipe for Biltong, a south African cured beef. In the recipe you cure briefly with a measured 3% of weight in salt (talking 3 hours, very brief) then in red wine vinegar and seasoning over night, then hang at room temp for 6-8 days.
BUT here is the tricky part - I made one cut the way I would a pork cut, just salt, nothing else. I usually cure my pork in salt for 5 days, but can I take the beef out to hang after just one day? Or is this only possible through the vinegar addition?
Can I hang it at room temp with the other pieces or should I use my mini fridge I use for pork?
I'm assuming I'd dry it to what the Biltong is normally dried to (50-70% weight loss which is a lot more than pork).
Thoughts?
03:36 UTC
Guanciale yellow rind
Hi this is my second guanciale. My only concern is the yellow rind on some pieces. Is it ok to eat? Should I trimm it? Is It dangerous and should I discard whole guanciale? The yellow rind is more noticeable in the photo, in reality it looks lighter. Thank you for your response🙏
21:43 UTC
Meat slicer help
So I came across a Hobart slicer on marketplace with no other details about it. I went to go check it out the same day, it was in a commercial kitchen and bought it. Its older and been used but works perfectly fine. A few hours of deep cleaning (scrubbing and sanitizing) and she looks great. I believe its a Hobart HS8 ( tag is unreadable do to wear). should I keep it, or sell it and get a smaller meat slicer? I think its a bit over kill for what I'm doing. If its worth more than the 300$ I paid for it, could I sell it and make my money back and pay for a new smaller one? on the other hand I do have space for it and its kinda cool. whats yalls take?
22:23 UTC
A friend gave me this. He said it's guanciale but it does not look or taste like that. What is it?
It has a sweetish, smoked smell/taste, I think it's speck or some kind of ham.
Can anyone identify it just by the pictures?
Thanks!
20:42 UTC
Curing chamber odor
Hi all, I am planning on building a ciring chamber with an old frost free fridge controlled with inkbirds. I wanted to know if the room where I will install my curing chamber will smell like charcutery and mold 600 or if the fridge will keep any odor inside?
14:34 UTC
Can we talk about casings?
I have a bunch of product about to go into my cabinet for the first time (woo!) and will certainly use beef bung for some of it. I was contemplating not using it for (some of?) the guanciale and/or pancetta, though, to get a comparison and because they are awkward shapes.
Are there any cuts/types of whole muscle cures you'd 100% use a casing for, and any where you don't? I realise this is likely to be about personal preference as much as the One True Answer, but would love to hear your preferences.
13:43 UTC