"charcuterie" news and stories

• Foods like fiddlehead ferns and ramps may be farmers market favorites, but too much foraging carries a big environmental price tag.
• Japadog is a Vancouver street food experience created to transcend the city's strict street vendor laws.
• Some suggestions for making a charcuterie platter for home entertainment.
• Globe wine expert Beppi Crosariol hunts down trendy bottles of wine for the younger generation.
• Don't soil the soil: That stuff in the garden is a lot more than just dirt. According to one gardener, it's "the critical backbone of the garden."
• A look at Romelia, a richly flavored mixed-rind goat's milk cheese.
• Poached eggs, stir-fried shrimp and cheese are even better when paired with asparagus.
  
• Mark Bittman's Flexitarian diet encourages folks to avoid animal products, processed foods and simple carbs before 6 p.m.
• How to make a Thai Rye, a tasty cocktail that won even Jean-Georges' stamp of approval.
• Raw seal heart is a traditional Inuit food -- and is also known as "the caviar of the north."
• Take matcha out of the tea cup with a recipe for Strawberries with Jellilfied Matcha.

During my layover in Paris, I entered what appeared to be a high-end deli. These high-end delis appear all over Paris. They are called charcuteries. The French charcuteries are one-of-a-kind. At first, when I entered Jeusselin, a charcuterie in the 7th arrondissement in Paris, I was stunned by the gorgeous displays of the prepared delicacies, such as white asparagus, tête de veau (calf's head), saucissons (French sausages) and jambons (French hams). Every aspect of the shop seems artistically calculated. The people who work at charcuteries such as Jeusselin are not simply seen as charcutiers (pork butchers), but also as traiteurs (caterers), so the presentation of every food is taken seriously.

But, it's not just the food displays that make the French charcuterie unique at Jeusselin. It's also the way the traiteurs cure their meats. In fact, the word "traiteur" means a cook-caterer. They are chefs in their own right. The history of the traiteur goes much further back in time before restaurants existed. In France, up until the eighteenth century, these master cooks would serve meals to large parties. So, it's not surprising that when restaurants (as opposed to long-existing cafes and taverns) sprang up for the first time all over Paris in the 1700s, traiteurs felt threatened and brought legal charges against some of them. In other words, they were as well-respected as today's star chefs.

The traiteurs at Jeusselin are proud of their work and excited to share their knowledge with their customers. They have been at 37 rue Cler since 1937. During my visit to the shop last week, the current owners of Jeusselin were eager to show me photos of their family members who started the business.

There's nothing like a pile of good quality charcuterie piled up on a rustic table, with a table slicer in the rear of the waiting to shave ham, prosciutto and salami into thin delicious bits of meaty goodness. This image makes me nearly start to salivate and I want to leap up and run to my closest specialty store for a bit of porky goodness. The picture comes to us from food blogger Niamh of Eat Like a Girl. Find out more about her trip to Marylebone here.

Source

SIV gives newcomer Hatfield's two-and-a-half stars (**½), calling it a restaurant "just like those little places in France that win everyone's heart."

Russ Parsons dishes out the ABCs of salumi: what they are, where to get it in LA, and how to serve it. End of summer is the season for preserving, pickling and canning: plum preserves, achar, and hot pickles. It's also a time to take advantage of end-of-summer vegetables: Heirloom Tomatoes Stuffed with Salt Cod and Potato Puree, Peppers Stuffed with Bulgur and Feta Salad, and Eggplant Stuffed with Kale and Walnuts.

In wine, the Tasting Panel does a selection that pairs well with salumi. The Wine of the Week is 2005 Curran Grenache Blanc that "tastes startlingly alive, with a distinct minerally finish."

Give me a plate of cold meats a little cheese, crusty bread and a few glasses of wine and I am a happy chap. Spanish preferably...

• Butifarra - a speciality of Catalonia Butifarra, is a cooked sausage made from chopped lean pork, just occassionally having a little chopped mushroom in addition to salt and pepper. Sold in strings for grilling or in larger rounds for slicing and serving cold.
• Cecina - most produced around Leon. Made from beef, cecina is salted and smoked over oak before air-curing for upwards of six months. More intense than the Italian equivalent Bresaola.
• Chorizo - perhaps the most well known of Spanish meats with its distinctive colouring hailing from the use of pimenton (a Spanish paprika). Made from pork and pork fat. Available in all shapes and sizes.
• Jamon - air-cured ham and the king of charcuterie in Spain. Sliced as required from a whole leg or pre-sliced and vacuum packed. Varieties include Jamon Serrano and Jamon Iberico.
• Lomo - a complete loin of pork with all fat removed is coated with a dry marinade of garlic, nutmeg, salt and pimenton. This is stuffed into a casing and air-cured for at least six months. Delicate in flavour.
• Morcilla - blood sausage/black pudding. Highly spiced with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and anise. Often plumped up with onions or pine nuts. Sold pre-sliced or in thick chunks.
• Salchichon - when chorizo has the pimenton replaced with pepper (black or white) it becomes Salchichon. Often studded with peppercorns much like a salami. A fuet is a thinner version from Catalonia.