Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn the craft of salting smoking and curing revised and updated edition. Without the faintest hint of apology Ruhlman and Polcyn present an arsenal of recipes that take hours sometimes days, to prepare; are loaded with fat; and, if ill-prepared, can lead to botulism. The result is one of the most intriguing and important cookbooks published this year. Ruhlman (The Soul of a Chef) is a food poet, and the pig is his muse. On witnessing a plate of cold cuts in Italy, he is awed by "the way the sunlight hit the fat of the dried meats, the way it glistened, the beauty of the meat." He relates and refines the work of Polcyn, a chef-instructor at a college in Livonia, Mich., who butchers a whole hog "every couple weeks for his students." Together, they make holy the art of stuffing a sausage, the brining of a corned beef and the poaching of a salted meat in its own fat. An extensive chapter on pâtés and terrines is entitled "The Cinderella Meat Loaf" and runs the gamut from exotic Venison Terrine with Dried Cherries to hearty English Pork Pie with a crust made from both lard and butter. And while there's no shortage of lyricism, science plays an equally important role. Everyone knows salt is a preservative, for example, but here we learn exactly how it does its job. And a section on safety issues weighs the dangers of nitrites and explains the difference between good mould and dangerous green stuff. Chapters are; Introduction Recipes for salt cured food Recipes for smoked food the exotic seasoning Sausages the power and the glory Recipes for dry cured food the artist and the sausage Pates and terrines the Cinderella meat loaf The confit technique fat the perfect cooking environment Recipes to accompany charcuterie Sauce and condiments not optional

Hardcover, 320 pages, 210mm x 265mm, b&w drawings, brand new. Check out my other listings for more books Im happy to combine postage where possible. Pickup is at Seddon.