In the Charcuterie - by Taylor Boetticher & Toponia Miller (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A definitive resource for the modern meat lover, with 125 recipes and fully-illustrated step-by-step instructions for making brined, smoked, cured, skewered, braised, rolled, tied, and stuffed meats at home; plus a guide to sourcing, butchering, and cooking with the finest cuts"--

Book Synopsis

A definitive resource for the modern meat lover, with 125 recipes and fully-illustrated step-by-step instructions for making brined, smoked, cured, skewered, braised, rolled, tied, and stuffed meats at home; plus a guide to sourcing, butchering, and cooking with the finest cuts.

The tradition of preserving meats is one of the oldest of all the food arts. Nevertheless, the craft charcuterie movement has captured the modern imagination, with scores of charcuteries opening across the country in recent years, and none is so well-loved and highly regarded as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fatted Calf.

In this much-anticipated debut cookbook, Fatted Calf co-owners and founders Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller present an unprecedented array of meaty goods, with recipes for salumi, pâtés, roasts, sausages, confits, and everything in between. A must-have for the meat-loving home cook, DIY-types in search of a new pantry project, and professionals looking to broaden their repertoire, In the Charcuterie boasts more than 125 recipes and fully-illustrated instructions for making brined, smoked, cured, skewered, braised, rolled, tied, and stuffed meats at home, plus a primer on whole animal butchery.

Take your meat cooking to the next level: Start with a whole hog middle, stuff it with a piquant array of herbs and spices, then roll it, tie it, and roast it for a ridiculously succulent, gloriously porky take on porchetta called The Cuban. Or, brandy your own prunes at home to stuff a decadent, caul fat-lined Duck Terrine. If it's sausage you crave, follow Boetticher and Miller's step-by-step instructions for grinding, casing, linking, looping, and smoking your own homemade Hot Links or Kolbász.

With its impeccably tested recipes and lush, full-color photography, this instructive and inspiring tome is destined to become the go-to reference on charcuterie--and a treasure for anyone fascinated by the art of cooking with and preserving meat.

Review Quotes

"A Best Cookbook of 2013"--Sunset

"No one in America makes more diverse charcuterie, more consistently, using better product than the Fatted Calf. And no American has ever written a more comprehensive book on the subject--this is a must-read."
--Patrick Martins, founder of Slow Food USA and the Heritage Radio Network, president of Heritage Foods USA

"If you love chopping, grinding, salting, stuffing, and curing--or anything deliciously handmade--then this is the book for you! Taylor and Toponia show you how to make a wide array of meaty goods, from simple gingery duck legs to a hunter-style sausage."
--April Bloomfield, chef/owner of the Spotted Pig, the Breslin, and the John Dory Oyster Bar, and author of A Girl and Her Pig

"This book is incredibly well written. The charcuterie recipes are outstanding, and Taylor and Toponia's clear instruction make the process less intimidating and more accessible. The other recipes are very inspired--their diverse flavors and preparations will take you on a great little culinary odyssey."
--Traci Des Jardins, chef/owner of Jardinière and Mijita Cocina

"With In the Charcuterie, Taylor and Toponia have created the New American cured meat manifesto. Like a plump, overstuffed sausage, this incredible piece of work--the product of years of experience and a lifetime of passion--is brimming with useable, accessible recipes that are fit for the home cook and the professional chef alike. This book sets the bar for neotraditional charcuterie makers."
--Matt Jennings, chef/owner of Farmstead

"To me, there is nothing more exhilarating than butchering, cooking, and preserving meat. Understanding the process and respecting the ingredients is key, and it's clear from In the Charcuterie that Taylor and Toponia have devoted their lives to mastering this craft. I always emphasize the importance of butchery to my cooks...now I can just buy them this book!"
--Marc Vetri, chef/owner of Vetri and author of Rustic Italian Food and Il Viaggio di Vetri

"One of the best-known of the new charcutiers is the Bay Area's Fatted Calf, so it's probably only reasonable that when founders Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller wrote a cookbook that they should call it In the Charcuterie, despite the fact that that title sells the book short. In the Charcuterie is much more than a guide to hams and salumi. In reality, it's nothing less than a thorough overview of our growing infatuation with good meat. There are guides to choosing cuts, to parsing the differences among the heritage breeds and to DIY butchery large and small. And, of course, there's lots of good information on how to cook meat. But where the book really shines -- and at least partially justifies the title -- are on the kinds of quick-cooked charcuterie items that are easily approachable by any reasonably ambitious home cook: pâtés, terrines, confits and meat pickles."
--LA Times

About the Author

TAYLOR BOETTICHER and TOPONIA MILLER are the co-owners and co-founders of the Fatted Calf Charcuterie, which opened in 2003 and now has shops in Napa and San Francisco, a stall in the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, and a mail-order store. The couple has been featured in The New York Times, Food & Wine, and Saveur, where the Fatted Calf was included in the editors' annual list of their 100 favorite food items and trends. Visit www.fattedcalf.com.