Kitchen Charcuterie for Beginners

Finding France Recipe Files: Saucisse Fraîche, crepinettes, basic Paté de Campagne or Fricandaux, Ventrèche

Kate Hill preparing Paté de Campagne

Brief Introduction to Charcuterie

While this is the briefest introduction to a few simple charcuterie recipes that you can easily make at home, I warn you that it is highly addictive, and you’ll want to dive deeper into the subject as I did. When approaching making charcuterie, I divide the different products into four basic food safety (HACCP¹) groups. This post addresses the first three groups in order of complexity in understanding working with meat, cutting and grinding, cooking, and curing. I’m happy to answer questions on our Substack App Chat feature or in the comments below.

Working with meat isn’t that scary once you are confident about where you are going. Working with raw meat? Cooking and preserving ground meat? Salting and drying meat to cure traditionally? I’m happy to start a chat and Q&A about food safety, flavor, and traditional French curing methods. Interested? Subscribe and let me know what you need.

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