Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing
If you have not picked this book up and have any interest in making fresh or dried sausages, pates, smoked foods and other cured things I would drop everything and run out and pick this up. Charcuterie has a huge volume of wonderful, diverse charcuterie recipes. Some of the sections include fresh sausages, smoking, pates and other cured things like pickles, vegetables and kraut. This book reads very well and is choked full of great recipes with easy to follow instructions and should appeal to both amateur and the experienced.
In the past, much information on charcuterie as a whole has been very limited and spread across many different sources. Michael and Brian do a wonderful job explaining each process and technique which demystifies the entire process of salting, curing, smoking, and emulsifying.
Also, I am sure my girlfriend has been dreading buying me Charcuterie since as of late John and I have been making a ton of items from this great book with many long nights working on recipes with nothing to show for or feed our better halves... Doh!
