Charcuterie class with the Chefs from Estate & The Girl & the Fig

I had an amazing experience a couple weeks ago, I took a class at the catering kitchen for The Girl and the Fig. Growing up in Petaluma with my mom’s Swiss/Italian heritage my family was always sharing dried salami and other charcuterie. At any give family gathering there was always a large plate of “Anti Pasta’ which was a selection of dried salami’s and pickled vegetables. My uncle and his friends make both dried salami and sausages made pork and venison. The aroma and the taste is one of my earliest memories of a comfort food. There is something to be said about hand-made product, weather it be bottle of wine, a meal made from fresh locally grown ingredients, a piece of art that catches you eye or a custom bicycle build for just you. All of these thing are works of art, and it seems as our world keeps getting more and more busy the one place we can slow down and really enjoy is in the food we eat. Do thing that are hand-made taste, look or perform better? I believe so yes, but you will have to make up your own mind.

I am not going to try to explain to you what is was that we did in this very hands on class. But will try to convince you that if you enjoy and appreciate thing hand-made, with the finest products then go out and learn how it’s done. On this day we made Coppa, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Pancetta, and Sabe & Oregano Salami. Don’t get me wrong this is not easy, preparing a food originally intended as a way to preserve meats before the advent of refrigeration, they are prepared today for their flavors derived from the preservation processes.There are many ways to prepare types of charcuterie, the two processes we used were salt cured or brined and fermented.

Salt serves four main purposes in the preservation of food in the charcuterie kitchen. The first is inducing osmosis: this process involves the movement of water outside of the membranes of the cells, which in turn reabsorb the salted water back into the cell; this process assists in the destruction of harmful pathogens. The second is dehydration, which means that the salt pulls excess water from the protein, which aids in the shelf-life of the protein as there is less moisture present for bacteria to thrive in. Fermentation is the third, in which salt assists in halting the fermentation process in meat which would otherwise completely break it down. Finally, salt assists in denaturing proteins, which in essence means that the structure of the proteins is effectively shifted, similar to the effects of cooking.

Pork Belly dry rubbed

Apple Wood Bacon after being smoked

Beef and Pork ready to ground

Fermented sausages are created by salting chopped or ground meat to remove moisture, while allowing beneficial bacteria to break down mild flavored proteins into highly aromatic and flavorful molecules. Bacteria, including Lactobacilli and Leuconostoc, break down these proteins and produce lactic acid which not only affects the flavor of the sausage, but also lowers the pH from 6 to 4.5-5, preventing the growth of bacteria that could spoil the sausage. These effects are magnified during the drying process, as the salt and acidity are concentrated as moisture is extracted.

There is a lot of science that goes along with making any of these products so they are safe to eat and share. So I encourage you to try to make your own Bacon or Coppa sometime, but pick up a book about it, or better yet take one of the classes that Chef John Toluze teaches it’s a lot of fun and you will have a great appreciation for Mano Formate.

http://www.estate-sonoma.com/events.html

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