Product Description
The only book for home cooks offering a complete introduction to the craft. CHARCUTERIE—a culinary specialty that originally referred to the creation of pork products such as salami, sausages, and prosciutto—is true food craftsmanship, the art of turning preserved food into items of beauty and taste. Today the term encompasses a vast range of preparations, most of which involve salting, cooking, smoking, and drying. In addition to providing classic recipes for sausages, terrines, and pâtés, Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn expand the definition to include anything preserved or prepared ahead such as Mediterranean olive and vegetable rillettes, duck confit, and pickles and sauerkraut. Ruhlman, coauthor of The French Laundry Cookbook, and Polcyn, an expert charcuterie instructor at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, present 125 recipes that are both intriguing to professionals and accessible to home cooks, including salted, airdried ham; Maryland crab, scallop, and saffron terrine; Da Bomb breakfast sausage; mortadella and soppressata; and even spicy smoked almonds. 50 line drawings.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 64 reviews)

Trilled and trying out recipes by Wee Seng Khiong (Sarawak, Malaysia)

5 Stars
June 08, 2009
Thoroughly happy with this book, this fountain of information. I have just started a bacon and a ham but impossible to buy prague powder inthis part of the world. Have used 5% Potassium Nitrate KNO3 (E252)to 95% common Salt mix instead. Hope they turn out OK!

Extremely thorough and approachable by Boston Book Addict (Boston, Mass.)

5 Stars
April 29, 2009
I've always loved ordering the Charcuterie plates at restaurants and have wondered whether I could make similar products myself. This book makes it seem within reach and made me feel like I had all the recipes, pointers, and tools I need to be successful. What makes this cookbook a true gem is how thorough it is on the topic of Charcuterie both in the variety of recipes and the depth of the instruction. You get a wealth of different recipes from fermented-style sausages to pates to confits. Because of this there are many simpler recipes that someone new to this craft could get started with as well as many more challenging ones that are perfect for more expert cooks.

I also appreciated that this was not just a recipe book. It has in-depth sections on each type of product. You get a good sense about everything from the type of equipment you'll need to the right ratios of ingredients in recipes. Because of this you're not just cooking to a recipe but really learning how to be successful at charcuterie. It makes me think that if I spent more time with this book I would be able to customize my own recipes based on my likes and dislikes or improvise based on what is available at the market.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It is not a quick and easy cookbook, but it is still approachable enough that even if you are new to charcuterie you can grow to create amazing sausages and pates on your own. Even if you do not end up cooking the recipes from the book it's worth the cover price for all the details the provide on techniques and equipment. I can see myself using it not just as a cookbook but also as a reference book when I come across recipes for things like sausages and pates elsewhere.

I highly recommend it and understand why it got so many high powered endorsements on the back cover.

Too many mistakes! by B. Flaks (Congresbury, North Somerset England)

2 Stars
March 16, 2009
According to other reviewers there are some mistakes in this otherwise attractive book. I discovered a particularly glaring one on the cooking times given for confit of duck. The authors recommend an initial cooking time of six hours (and up to teh hours). Even six hours would result in a mess and is absurd. Jane Grigson (page 319) gives a time of about two and a half hours which works very well. It tends to suggest that the authors have not actually attempted their own recipe. This seems more probable than not to me, since I followed their timing for pork confit and it was clearly far too long - the meat shrank badly and had to be handled very carefully after the initial cooking to avoid it falling apart.
If you like reading the book, fine. But do not rely on it for correct instructions.

I agree with all the 2 STAR ratings and a little more by My name is Ham, and I'm Cured (Boston)

2 Stars
February 20, 2009
I purchased the book before I read the negative reviews. I probably would have bought it anyway being sckeptical of reviews. I couldn't have said it better, esp. about the nitrates, and the non-existence of photos!!!!!!!!!!!, how do I know if what I made looks like it should? I will add in my review several other comments such as: the book appears to be written for the sake of avant garde chefs trying to impress one another (a tip-off to this is the forward by the chef of the French Laundry); the recipes are not necessarily traditional but manipulated to create a sense of excitement; if these guys really made these cured meats etc. where are the photos of the finished product?, there is no excuse for this today given the techno capabilities of the computer. The book will probably sit on my shelf for a long time before I reference it.

Worth it just for the confit... by E. Gieskes

5 Stars
February 03, 2009
Ruhlman and Polcyn's book would be worth buying if its only contents were the chapter on confit (duck confit recipe produces amazing confit), but of course the book covers a vast array of other techniques. The formulae for salt-cured fish are excellent and I could go on, but suffice it to say that this book is highly recommended.

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