Book Suggestion

[Jogeephus]

I recently purchased Charcuterie by M. Ruhlman & B. Polcyn. If you are one of the few who wants to brush up on the craft of salting, smoking and curing - this book is the mother load. I highly recommend it. I believe I have just stepped up my culinary skills to a new dimension. :banana:

 

[HerefordSire]

I recently purchased Charcuterie by M. Ruhlman & B. Polcyn. If you are one of the few who wants to brush up on the craft of salting, smoking and curing - this book is the mother load. I highly recommend it. I believe I have just stepped up my culinary skills to a new dimension. :banana:

Do you like to make beds and wash clothes also? :idea:

 

[novatech]

I recently purchased Charcuterie by M. Ruhlman & B. Polcyn. If you are one of the few who wants to brush up on the craft of salting, smoking and curing - this book is the mother load. I highly recommend it. I believe I have just stepped up my culinary skills to a new dimension. :banana:

Grandad always had hams, sausage, and all sorts of other thing hanging from the kitchen ceiling when I was a kid. I always watched him make the stuff. I sure wish I had gotten his receipts before he went. Sounds like a good book. Thanks.

Do you like to make beds and wash clothes also?

Would you mind clarifying this question?

 

[grannysoo]

I recently purchased Charcuterie by M. Ruhlman & B. Polcyn. If you are one of the few who wants to brush up on the craft of salting, smoking and curing - this book is the mother load. I highly recommend it. I believe I have just stepped up my culinary skills to a new dimension. :banana:

Do you like to make beds and wash clothes also? :idea:

Ummmmmm..... yes. Every day.

 

[Jogeephus]

I recently purchased Charcuterie by M. Ruhlman & B. Polcyn. If you are one of the few who wants to brush up on the craft of salting, smoking and curing - this book is the mother load. I highly recommend it. I believe I have just stepped up my culinary skills to a new dimension. :banana:

Do you like to make beds and wash clothes also? :idea:

HS, if you don't know how to do it yourself, how then are you going to know whether or not the kitchen staff or the house staff is doing it properly. Its hard to be a rich elitist as you are required to know so much. Keeping high standards on the estate is hard enough without letting the servants snow you by not doing things properly. I can't tell you how many times I've caught the staff not freezing the bed linens before they iron them. What good is having a linen freezer if they are not going to use it. As you know this must be done daily to keep the beds crisp and smart. While they think I won't catch them but they are wrong. As for the grounds-keepers, game-keepers and the maintenance staff - I'm not even going to go there. Yeah, I know how to do these things cause I must.

While I know this is beneath a person of my social status, I am always open to suggestions on how I might delegate these minial jobs to someone else so I can spend my valuable time doing more important things like crochet or bocce ball.

 

[skyline]

Jogee, my staff keeps putting the sheets on my bed without thawing them out. They think it's funny, but it's about to tick me off.

 

[grannysoo]

Hmmmm... I wonder how it would go at home if I started calling the family "my staff". I really should probably do that one day. :lol2:

 

[skyline]

Hmmmm... I wonder how it would go at home if I started calling the family "my staff". I really should probably do that one day. :lol2:

Hey GS, let us know how that works out for you... ;-)

 

[Jogeephus]

Hmmmm... I wonder how it would go at home if I started calling the family "my staff". I really should probably do that one day. :lol2:

If you are getting as much rain as we are, today would not be the best choice of days to have a staff meeting. ;-) :lol2:

 

[ga. prime]

Jo, is there a chapter in the book about fish and seafood smoking? That's my latest craze.. I've been smoking some fish every weekend the past few weeks, enough to have it hot off the smoker and enough extra to dine on cold a couple times during the week. Mullet, Sea Trout, Croakers, Whiting..

 

[Jogeephus]

Jo, is there a chapter in the book about fish and seafood smoking? That's my latest craze.. I've been smoking some fish every weekend the past few weeks, enough to have it hot off the smoker and enough extra to dine on cold a couple times during the week. Mullet, Sea Trout, Croakers, Whiting..

I just read your post and thumbed through the book. It speaks mostly of cod and salmon but I imagine any fish would do. What I like about the book is that it gives some history as well as the science behind it rather than just giving a bunch of recipes. It explains what a cure is and how to make it from scratch as well as many other things. They are not selling anything only offering understanding to the art and science of these techniques. Its broken down into sections like - salting, smoking, curing and other things like making patte or head cheese. In the salting section, it gives you the instructions of what meats you can salt and how its done and some recipes as well. Smoking section is set up the same way. There is also plenty of information on sweet breads, jerky, sausage and other things as well. One I've never heard of but am going to try is cured duck breast. This sounds good. But if you are looking for some good solid understanding of how these techniques can be used on various meats I think you will find it extremely helpful. Its also written well and keeps your attention.

 

[ga. prime]

Very interesing, thanks for the tip.