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Information about Charcuterie

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A modern charcuterie display
Charcuterie (from either the French chair cuite, cooked meat, or the French cuiseur de chair, cooker of meat) is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as sausage and confit, primarily from pork. The practice goes back to ancient times and can involve the chemical preservation, or curing, of meats. Since charcuterie can greatly extend the lifetime of meat, it is a means of using up various meat scraps that would have otherwise been wasted. All cured meat Hams, whether smoked, air-cured, salted, or treated by chemical means, are charcuterie products. Sausage making is also part of charcuterie.

The main techniques of charcuterie include the standard kitchen repertoire of poaching and baking, as well as salting or dry curing, brining, air drying, and smoking with and without heat. The room-temperature treatments involved in air drying and cold smoking introduce a host of food safety issues, and so curing salts are often used to prevent the spread of dangerous pathogens, particularly C. botulinum, or botulism.

The French word for a person who prepares charcuterie is charcutier, generally translated into English as "pork butcher." This has led to the mistaken belief that charcuterie can only involve pork. The Food Lover's Companion, however, says that "it refers to the products, particularly (but not limited to) pork specialties such as pâtés, rillettes, galantines, crépinettes, etc., which are made and sold in a delicatessen-style shop, also called a charcuterie." And the 1961 edition of Larousse Gastronomique defines it as: "The art of preparing various meats, in particular pork, in order to present them in the most diverse ways."

The word can also refer to a delicatessen, a meat shop that specializes in primarily pork products, or that part of a supermarket that specializes in meat products such as hams and sausages.

See also

sausage is a type of food usually consisting of ground meat, animal fat, salt, and spices, and sometimes other ingredients such as herbs, sometimes packed in a casing. Sausage making is a very old food preservation technique.
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Confit (French) is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavor and preservation. Sealed and stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months, and can be reheated to extend its useful life.
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Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig (Sus scrofa), often specifically the fresh meat but can be used as an all-inclusive term. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide.
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In food preparation, curing refers to various preservation and flavoring processes, especially of meat or fish, by the addition of a combination of salt, sugar and nitrate and/or nitrite. Many curing processes also involve smoking.
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In food preparation, curing refers to various preservation and flavoring processes, especially of meat or fish, by the addition of a combination of salt, sugar and nitrate and/or nitrite. Many curing processes also involve smoking.
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ham is the thigh and rump of any animal that is slaughtered for meat, but the term is usually restricted to a cut of pork, the haunch of a pig or boar. Although it can be cooked and served fresh, most ham is cured in some fashion.

Ham can either be dry-cured or wet-cured.
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Poaching is the process of gently simmering food in liquid, generally water, stock or wine.

Poaching is particularly suitable for fragile food, such as eggs, poultry, fish and fruit, which might easily fall apart or dry out.
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Salt is a mineral essential for animal life, composed primarily of sodium chloride. Salt for human consumption is produced in different forms: unrefined salt (such as sea salt), refined salt (table salt), and iodized salt.
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Brine is water saturated or nearly saturated with salt (NaCl). It is used (now less popular than historically) to preserve vegetables, fish, and meat. Brine is also commonly used to age Feta cheese.
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Smoking is the process of flavouring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to the smoke from burning or smoldering plant materials, most often wood. Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as
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Food safety is a scientific discipline describing the handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent Foodborne illness.

Domestic foodborne illness prevention

At home, prevention of Foodborne illness mainly consists of:

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Curing salt is salt containing small amounts of sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate. It is used in the preserving and curing of meats, and in sausage making. The nitrate component inhibits the growth of bacteria, specifically botulism, and helps preserve the color of cured meat.
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A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host.[1] The term is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or plant.
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C. botulinum

Binomial name
Clostridium botulinum
van Ermengem, 1896

Clostridium botulinum is a bacterium that produces the toxin botulin, the causative agent in botulism.
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Food Lover’s Companion

Third Edition Cover
Author Sharon Tyler Herbst
Country  United States
Language English
Series Barron's Cooking Guide
Publisher Barron's Educational Series
Publication date Sept. 2007 (4th Ed.)
March 2001 (3rd Ed.
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Pâté (French pronunciation: [pɑte]; RP pronunciation: [ˈpæteɪ]; General American pronunciation
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Rillettes (French for "planks") is a preparation of meat similar to pâté. Originally made with pork, the meat is cubed or chopped, salted heavily and cooked slowly in fat until it is tender enough to be easily shredded, and then cooled with enough of the fat to form a paste.
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A galantine is a French dish of boned stuffed meat, most commonly poultry or fish, that is poached and served cold, coated with aspic. Galantines are often stuffed with forcemeat, and pressed into a cylindrical shape.
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Crépinette [Kray-pih-NEHT; Kray-pee-NEHT] alt. Crepinette (F) org. From crépine/pig's caul

1) a small, flattened sausage made of minced or ground pork, lamb, veal, or chicken, wrapped in caul fat. Usually breaded and sautéed in butter.
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Larousse Gastronomique

2001 hardback edition in its box
Author Prosper Montagné
Country France
Language French
Subject(s) Culinary Arts
Genre(s) non-fiction
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worldwide view.


This article is about food stores. For the movie, see Delicatessen (film). For the band, see Delicatessen (band).
A delicatessen is a type of store.
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sausage is a type of food usually consisting of ground meat, animal fat, salt, and spices, and sometimes other ingredients such as herbs, sometimes packed in a casing. Sausage making is a very old food preservation technique.
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Cold cuts are cheeses or precooked or cured meat, often sausages or meat loaves, that are sliced and usually served cold on sandwiches or on party trays. They can be bought pre-sliced in vacuum packs at a supermarket or grocery store, or they can be purchased at a delicatessen or
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For the Seattle restaurant and retail store, see .


Salumi (sing: salume) are Italian meat products which are usually cured and predominantly made from pork.
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