EDIBLE ARTISANS

EDIBLE ARTISANS CHARCUTERIE

New masters revive an age-old craft

By Pete Rerig Photography by Ted Holladay

With the deftness of a surgeon, James Anderson, sous-chef for the Carmel restaurants Casanova and La Bicyclette, works the wheel of an enormous, cherry-red Emiliomiti reproduction of a 1930s charcuterie slicer, delicately shaving off nearly translucent pieces of goose prosciutto as Executive Chef John Cox looks on.

“Because this slicer runs at lower RPMs, it doesn’t generate the heat that electric slicers do—heat which can actually melt the fat,” says Cox. “And the fat is where the best flavors lie.”

Anderson and Cox, along with a host of local chefs and butchers from Santa Cruz to Greenfield, are practicing the ancient art of artisan charcuterie, or the preparing, curing, smoking and aging of meat—everything from prosciutto to pancetta, sausage to bacon, and dozens of more exotic cuts such as lardo, lomo and mocetta.

The trend, part of a national movement that has been blossoming for quite some time, fulfills a longing among consumers for all things handmade, local and delicious, as well as a growing need to know where their food—and particularly their meat—comes from. Meanwhile, local purveyors are reveling in their customers’ newfound appreciation of their house-prepared meats—and the customers’ willingness to pay a little more for the higher quality and better taste of something made from scratch.

“When we can control every aspect of the preparation and curing process, we know exactly what the result will be each time, and that’s not something that can be guaranteed with the mass-produced stuff,” says Cox, explaining why the restaurant makes its own. “Meat that doesn’t have the right amount of fat, is cured too long or not long enough can really be just tasteless.

“Making our own charcuterie also allows us to experiment with different flavors and aging durations—always staying within FDA and USDA standards of course—giving us the opportunity to offer fun and surprising choices to our customers,” Cox added, referring to the restaurant’s goose prosciutto, wild boar salami, and antelope mocetta.

And as Anderson notes, the local benefits go far beyond a restaurant’s customers when the chefs make an effort to procure their meats, herbs and spices locally, as he and Cox and most of the other producers interviewed for this article do.

“We buy our pigs from right down the road in Carmel Valley, from a woman who raises three different varieties fed on a diet of wild acorns,” Anderson says. “We’re supporting her; she’s supporting us; and we know exactly what we’re getting when we do wholehog processing. It’s just another link in the growing trend of eating local and sustainable foods.”

And if you have any doubt that the creation and sales of locally made charcuterie are both on the rise in this region, just walk down the street from La Bicyclette and step into Salumeria Luca.

Opened by the adjacent restaurant Cantinetta Luca in August, Salumeria Luca may be the first contemporary artisan Salumeria, or, loosely, charcuterie store, to set up in the region.

“With the rising interest in charcuterie, our goal—and our passion—is to educate local consumers,” says manager Grant Dobbie, who notes that they’ll begin curing meats in-house pending federal certification.

Currently, Salumeria Luca offers a host of different prosciutto— some imported and some domestic—along with salamis from Berkeley and San Francisco and wonderful homemade cacciatorini—also known as hunter sausage.

“We love to talk to our patrons and discover their specific tastes,” notes Dobbie. “Then, we can guide them towards products we know they’ll love. For us, it’s all about expanding people’s knowledge of what’s out there.”

Opposite page, clockwise from left: Ren Hogue at el Salchichero: John Cox, La Bicyclette; Howard Walker, Freedom Meat Lockers; Chris LaVeque, el Salchichero. THE ROVING RENEGADE

Another influential player in the local charcuterie market is John Roberts, affectionately known as the “PigWizard.”

Roberts, who works out of rented kitchen spaces throughout Monterey County, began studying butchery 13 years ago, making sausage and doing whole-animal processing at Monte Vista Market.

“I basically just started reading everything I could find on the subjects of curing and aging, and quickly discovered I had a real passion for charcuterie,” he says.

“It’s a meticulous process that takes a lot of work—discovering the proper cure durations, what herbs and spices work best, and so on. At the beginning it was a lot of trial and error—you can’t cure meat around any other produce or it will absorb unwanted flavors, for instance—but I really believe the quality we’re able to achieve in-

dicates what a bad job the huge meat-processing plants in this country are doing.”

On a rainy day in Sand City, Roberts works a slicer, shaving his custom-recipe Italian-style salami—a favorite of his customer base— and coppa cured with coriander, mustard seed and anise. “Growing up, my mother always had hundreds of jars of canned vegetables on hand, all of it bought locally and preserved in her kitchen. I miss that, and it’s one of the main reasons I got into charcuterie.

“There’s such a huge awareness now of the importance of buying fruit and veggies from local, sustainable sources. That same awareness has not fully translated to meat yet, but I see it happening—people want to know where their food is coming from, and that’s a huge step in the right direction.”

Dealing with the Rules and Regs

State inspection. County inspection. Federal inspection. Mountains of paperwork. Hurdle after hurdle to jump through. Recipe, ingredient and labeling requirements. It’s little wonder trying to make a living in charcuterie is a complicated endeavor.

Of course, all of this is intended to help ensure food is safe, but the roadblocks push many entrepreneurs into an underground existence.

“It’s nearly impossible to navigate the process,” says PigWizard owner John Roberts, who as a result has opted to keep his operation on the down low, as do some area restaurants that serve their own house-made charcuterie. “Fortunately, I worked for a time at a facility that was under USDA inspection, and I know the right and wrong ways to do things.

“There’s no layer of inspection for the smaller companies, and too often county health agencies don’t understand the rules themselves. In the end, most restaurants and butchers who have the ability to do great in-house charcuterie just don’t bother.”

But with more than 13 years of experience in butchery and charcuterie, Roberts feels well qualified to make meat products that are as safe as or safer than those churned out by giant meat processing plants.

“I keep mountains of notes detailing every part of the process, from the acquisition of meat to seasonings used in curing to aging times to my final packaging,” he adds. “I did two years of pure research before I even made my first salami.”

To complete his education, Roberts plans to make an indefinite trip to Italy and Spain next year.

“I want to teach and learn, and just be where the craft of curing meat began so long ago.”

To order PigWizard products, visit www.pigwizard.com, email pigwizard@pigwizard.com, or call 831.236.1844

So where did people purchase handmade salami and sausages before industrial food operations moved in or fancy salumerias had set up shop? The local butcher, of course.

“The classic, corner butcher shop has slowly disappeared,” says Chris LaVeque, owner of the two-year-old, full-service, custom butchery el Salchichero (Spanish for sausage maker) in Santa Cruz.

“I want to bring that tradition back—the tradition of having a relationship with your butcher, of knowing where your meat is coming from.” And with the rising tide of the locavore movement, he’s poised to do just that.

“Your food is only as good as your pantry, and our pantry is great,” he says, pulling out trays of wild fennel pollen gathered from fields just outside town, jars of organic honey from Soquel and container after container of exotic peppers such as espelette (a French variety grown locally), chilies and more. “It’s all about using the absolute best products and knowing where every last ingredient comes from. Our beef, for instance, comes from one mile away. I know the breeders personally, and I know they care about their stock.”

LaVeque’s dedication to quality is nowhere more evident than in his curing room, where every imaginable variety of trussed meat hangs below an old-growth redwood ceiling—plump Spanish-style chorizo, well-marbled pancetta and prosciutto, as well as bresaola, saucisson and pepperoni, some aged for only 30 days, others for a staggering two years.

“Sourcing products is difficult,” he says, “and it costs the customer more. But I’m finding that people are willing to pay a higher premium for the peace of mind that comes with eating sustainable food and supporting their local economy. I only hope the trend continues.”

See also “Bakers Bacon,” p. 47, and “The Old School Sausage Kings,” p. 48.

Casanova Fifth Ave. and Mission St., Carmel 831.625.0501 • www.casanovarestaurant.com

La Bicyclette Dolores St. at Seventh Ave., Carmel 831.622.9899 • www.labicycletterestaurant.com

Salumeria Luca Dolores St. between Ocean and Seventh, Carmel 831.625.0264 • www.salumerialuca.com

PigWizard pigwizard@pigwizard.com 831.236.1844 • www.pigwizard.com

el Salchichero 402 Ingalls St., Santa Cruz 831.423.6328 • www.elsalchichero.com

“I love bacon,” says British ex-pat and Montrio Bistro Executive Chef Tony Baker with a beaming smile. “But all the mass-produced bacon I found here was watery and tasteless. The bacon I grew up with was amazing, and I decided if I was going to ever offer it on my menu, I’d just have to make my own.”

So after months of testing with a veteran smoke master, Baker’s Bacon debuted on the menu at the downtown Monterey eatery a few years ago, and starting in 2011, became available to wholesalers around the country and to retail customers through Baker’s website.

“It’s definitely done in the British style—hand rubbed and smoked very slowly over applewood in a 60-year-old smokehouse.” Baker crafts three styles in all, each of them dry cured: Applewood Smoked Bacon; Natural Back Bacon, an English-style, thick sliced loin bacon; and Double Applewood Smoked Bacon, smoked for an additional six hours.

“The best bacon should be good and meaty, with just the right amount of fat,” adds Baker. “And of course, bacon is only as good as the animal it comes from, so we source the very best, wholly sustainable, naturally raised hogs.

“This is the real deal,” Baker says with no small dose of pride. “It’s the kind of bacon I grew up with, and every time I eat some, it takes me back to my roots.”

To order Chef Tony’s bacon, visit www.bakersbacon.com

While new players are helping breathe new life into the local artisan meat world, our region also hosts a number of long-time purveyors that never gave up their trade.

Tucked into an unassuming building in the quaint downtown of Corralitos is the Corralitos Market and Sausage Company, which has been dedicated to the in-house smoking of meats and creation of hand-crafted sausages since its founding in 1956.

“At any one time, we have between 25 and 30 different kinds of sausages available,” says Dave Peterson, the current owner. “We’re off the beaten path to be sure, but our customer base is strong because people know we have a consistently good product, free of any fillers, binders and preservatives.”

Peterson and his crew can often be found at the Monterey Peninsula College farmers market on Fridays, talking up their wholly natural smoking and curing processes.

“All the herbs and spices that go into our sausages are procured locally,” says Peterson, who also notes that he buys his beef and pork from Central California farms.

So what’s the constant bestseller among his vast selection? “The Cheesy Bavarian by far, a mild beef and pork sausage with sharp cheddar cheese. It keeps our doors open and the lights on,” he says, laughing.

Just four miles south of Corralitos is another wildly popular spot for lovers of all things cured, stuffed and smoked—the Freedom Meat Lockers and Sausage Company, where for more than 40 years Howard and Debbie Walker have operated one of the most extensive smoking, curing and full-service butchery operations in the region.

And of course, like Corralitos, Freedom’s sausage offerings are vast and somewhat exotic—Portuguese Linguisa, Croatian Kobasica, Hawaiian, Swedish Potato and a host of others made from chicken. A smoked Italian mozzarella sausage has even won awards at state competitions.

In the south county agricultural town of Greenfield, Roy Richina has operated the 1,000-square-foot Roy’s Swiss Sausage Factory for more than 20 years. (The “Swiss” is a nod to his immigrant father, who taught him the art of custom sausage making when he was a boy.)

Richina produces more than 100 pounds of sausage at a time, blending pork and sirloin with a dozen secret spices, red wine and sugar. There was a time when he and his father did this manually, but using a mechanized stuffer now allows Roy’s to sell a stunning 1,500 links of several different varieties each week.

Corralitos Market & Sausage Company 569 Corralitos Rd., Watsonville 831.722.2633

Freedom Meat Lockers & Sausage Company 160 Hi Grade Lane, Freedom 831.724.4355; 831.724.1167 • www.freedommeatlockers.com

Roy’s Swiss Sausage Factory 40821 E. Cherry Ave., Greenfield 831.674.2070