Top 5 Reasons to Cure Your Own Meat

Curing Meats at home doesn’t have to be difficult, and once the home cook has even a basic understanding of the technique and process of charcuterie, he or she can realize a multitude of benefits in the curing craft. Of course, the principle reason to learn and to create is to experience delicious food, but there are a host of other benefits just waiting to be realized. Here are the top 5 things I seem to enjoy the most about my charcuterie skill. Perhaps they will help tip your hand towards trying a few homemade lunch meats, hand-cured bacon, or other charcuterie items in your household.

Thrift
Curing meats usually requires us to seek out cuts of the animal that you wouldn’t typically throw on the grill, and it asks us to buy larger portions. As a butcher, this gives me an incredible appreciation of charcuterie craft, and as mother and head of household, the price tag attached to lesser used cuts and larger portions is an added plus...

Storage
Charcuterie was first practiced as a way to make use of the animal when there was no ability to immediately cook everything or to store it via the use of refrigeration. It is, by tradition, a beautiful method of storing and putting food up, and you can still realize this benefit in your kitchen today...

Purity
This one is huge. My readers and my students have admitted the most shock when they realize how many additives, colorants and sugars are added to mass produced cured meats in order to quickly develop shelf stability, or to achieve the color or counteract the off-flavors incurred in processing. Taking matters into your own hands on the home front empowers you to be the judge of what you eat and don’t...

Creativity
There is little question that creativity blossoms when you get to have final say. Once you understand the ratios behind cured meat recipes, you will be amazed at the opportunity for imagination when it comes to flavor pairings, or producing interesting textures and eating experiences, to name a few. My books seek to help you understand the essential building blocks for cured meat success, without strict subscriptions that tie you to recipes....

Wonder
A beautiful attribute of charcuterie is the interaction and collaboration it requires with nature. Firstly, in the sourcing of truly inspiring ingredients that are reflective of a healthy relationship with the soil, with clean good water, and with vibrant animals, and secondly in the symbiosis with beneficial microorganisms that charcuterie encompasses...

There are so many reasons to adopt a craft of some sort, and food crafts deliver not only delicious and nutritious sustenance, but also a host of other satisfactions. I’d love to hear from other readers about the biggest reasons they keep curing and preserving foods. The above reasons are just a few of mine. And if you aren’t already engaging in home food preservation, I hope this discussion has potentially tipped your hand towards giving charcuterie a try.

Get started with Pure Charcuterie: The Craft & Poetry of Curing Meat at Home, The Ethical Meat Handbook: Complete Home Butchery, Charcuterie & Cooking for the Conscious Omnivore, or get them both for a special Holiday Bundle price.

Butchery, Microbiology, Food For Thought, Meat, CharcuterieMeredith LeighDecember 5, 2017#curedmeat, #charcuterie, #purecharcuterie, #ethicalmeat, #diy, #homecured, #purecure, #sausage, #sausagemaking, #salami, #salumi, #wholeanimal2 Comments