CHARCUTERIE TOMFOOLERY

Oh, brother... I think I have my next obsession brewing, and there's really nothing I can do to stop it... Home Charcuterie.

Home charcuterie is basically the process of making cured meats at home. It all started with the bacon. While I was researching bacon recipes, I kept coming across a book called "Charcuterie: The craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing". I did a little research on the book and its subject, and have been slowly becoming more and more obsessed.

It turns out that bacon, sausage, and even mortadella are at the beginner end of the charcuterie spectrum, while salami, prosciutto, bresaola, and other similar items are on the more advanced end. With the equipment I have right now, I think I can wade into the beginner stuff right away, (the ones that don't require long term dry curing), but the more advanced items are going to take some planning.

The first order of business is to get the bacon made. Once I've got that under my belt, I'm going to need to buy myself the book I mentioned above, along with a meat grinder. From there, I can attempt a few types of sausages, then maybe a mortadella or two.

My real goal is to make salami, bresaola, and prosciuttio, and to do that, I'll need to save up for a small refrigerator, a temperature controller, and a temperature/humidity monitor. The goal is to end up with an environment that is about 50-60 degrees and ~70% humidity. I think the curing box could be put together for about 200 bucks or so. Also, this type of refrigerator would be perfect as a cheese cave, so I could use it to pursue that old dream at some point as well.

I feel like I'm a little nuts because of the way I get into things sometimes, but I'm starting to see a common thread forming... they're all delicious, difficult, and extremely time consuming. The day when I combine my cheesemaking, bread baking, smoking, lobstering, and charcuterie interests into a single meal that I eat on a handmade table, in a hand fitted chair, will probably bring me to tears. I think my subconscious is orchestrating the perfect meal without my knowledge, so I'm just gonna go with it for now and not ask too many questions....