Hi!

[rdale]

I'm rdale a line cook with an interest in all things edible, my background is in traditional cooking but have got the bug for charcuterie and modernist cuisine in the past couple of years, and love the endless discovery in food whether it is technique that is new to me or flavor combinations. My day job as line cook is pretty standard, but I have taken the opportunity to try and find my voice with food at home by cooking my family meals they won't find at any other table. Thanks for the add, I guess I'm not a lurker anymore.

 

[kayb]

Beautiful dishes. Welcome to the forum....you'll find all kinds here.

 

Talk charcuterie to me. I'm dipping my toe in that water.

 

[rdale]

11 minutes ago, kayb said:

Talk charcuterie to me. I'm dipping my toe in that water.

 

The place I started after asking someone who ran the charcuterie section of a restaurant before marrying well what books to get is Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn, and then slowly start adding gear that you might not have, smoker, sausage stuffer, meat grinder and a mixer. The last piece of equipment that I'm still waiting on to build is a curing cabinet, that will put dry aged hams and sausages in the list of things to experiment and eat. The recipe for duck breast hams (Hot Smoked and Prosciutto) in the book are easy to get by with making something tasty with out a cabinet and worth a try! It is a ton of fun making sausages, and years that I'm lucky enough to take a deer out of the woods, sausage making takes precedence over most other cooking.

[kayb]

I have Charcuterie, and have recently bought a smoker. I have a meat grinder/sausage stuffer attachment for my KA mixer; I think no more than I'll do, that will serve for me.

 

Will be interested to hear how your curing cabinet project goes. I've looked at buying a small dorm-room-sized fridge if I can find one I can set the temp high enough.

 

 

[rdale]

You are well on your way to the joys of smoked, cured and fermented meats! I haven't gone full nuts and got a sausage stuffer that is effective yet and am using a gun (which works better than the thing at work) that I got on sale at the end of deer season in Indiana at a sporting goods section of a Meijers (like walmart more variable pricing). I'm using the kitchenaid grinder too, it was a gift and I like it, but would have went for the third party metal deal I saw on amazon if I bought it, but to stuff a sausage I like it colder to keep the fat from melting, and the metal gun works better when stuck in the freezer for a few minutes. A pricker is also pretty helpful when making sausages and is cheap enough to maybe push you over the near miss of free amazon shipping when a couple of bucks short.