In Season: Old World. New World

IN SEASON

by JUDITH MARA

Old World.

New World.

THE ARTFULNESS OF THE CHARCUTERIE PLATTER

In the early summer, with days getting longer and nights getting shorter, lazy alfresco dining is no longer something to fantasize about. It is a welcome pleasure to savor charcuterie and cheese laid out picnic style with a glass of something cool in hand.

Long before there was refrigeration, people had to be clever about the conservation of food. This included the preservation of meat: sausages, hams, bacon, pâtés, rillettes and terrines that are all part of this historic culinary art called charcuterie. It was the fifteenth century French charcutier (derived from the term “chair cuit,” which means “cooked flesh”) shop owners who brought ingenuity to how we enjoy charcuterie today. By law they were not allowed to sell uncooked pork, so they created all manners of cooked, salted, smoked and dried dishes which sparked creativity and competitiveness.

Skip ahead to Chicago and the upper Midwest which took on the U.S. leadership of hog (and cattle) butchering over 150 years ago. With readily available meat and a vast European immigrant population, local butchers became famous for their sausages and cured meats––traditions that are still carried on today.

Cheese, the other lovely ancient artisan indulgence, reflects similar ingenuity with a salty, savory, made-from-the-earth honesty. Farmstead and artisan cheeses made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats or water buffalo in late summer should now be aged to sharp perfection. Together, cured meat and aged cheese are the foundations of the perfectly indulgent early summer charcuterie platter.

It is a fun yet brutal challenge to stand in front of a charcuterie counter and figure out how to select the right combination. Publican Quality Meats in Chicago offers both artisan charcuterie and cheese, and Sous Chef Missy Corey recommends diversification. “Pick one cured item (a salami or a cured whole muscle like coppa), choose a pâté or terrine and a ham, as well as a pork pie, a pâté en croute or rillette. That would be a great diversified plate.”

As far as selecting the right cheese for the platter, Chef Corey added, “I really enjoy semi-firm cheeses for charcuterie—softer cheeses or blues are better left to cheese plates. Cabot Clothbound Cheddar is great with meat, so is Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Queso iberico, manchego, pecorino pepato are all great options for charcuterie plates.”

Charcuterie Primer

Charcuterie covers a gamut of dry-cured, fermented and smoked meat, fowl and game. Pâté, terrine, rillette and confit that are preserved in their own fat are also included. The most popular charcuterie in the U.S. is made in the European style, but all old-world food cultures offer some form. The biggest difference in what is made by Americans is that our artisans tend to be more creative and less bound by tradition. Plus, locally made charcuterie is unique in flavor simply because it comes from our land, our pastures and our terrain.

Dry-Cured, Fermented and Smoked Charcuterie

The most important difference to note is that artisan salumi is not like commercially cured salami. Each portion is hung and naturally fermented (natural yeast develops similar to a good bread starter) and then is dry-cured for months. It is a very time-consuming process, but each bite is well worth the wait.

Passion, Italy and a grandfather who was a butcher are what drove Greg Laketek to open West Loop Salumi last year. Laketek became an authority on Italianstyle salumi after studying in Italy under Massimo Spigaroli, a master salumiere.

All of Laketek’s world-class salumi and salami is gently fermented in one chamber, then slowly dry-cured in another chamber on site. (All of his pork is 100% milk-fed Berkshire heritage hogs.) Understanding the difference between salumi and salami is a charcuterie tongue-twister. Laketek explains it this way, “All salami is salumi, but not all salumi is salami.” Got it?

When asked how he likes to build a charcuterie platter, Laketek suggests beginning with ciauscolo. This is a

Instead of slicing and laying the slices flat, pinch, roll or fold the slices to make it easier for people to pick up.

spreadable salami made in the tradition of the Ascoli Piceno, a province of Italy. Then add ultra thin slices of a whole muscle salumi such as coppa or bresaola, and to spice things up, add some peppery capocollo.

Laketek also offers a great tip for cutting and serving salumi. Instead of slicing and laying the slices flat, pinch, roll or fold the slices to make it easier for people to pick up. Also, slice your salami (cured sausage) about as thick as a black peppercorn. Whole muscle salumi, such as coppa, should be sliced as thin as possible so you can taste the whole piece at once and feel the silky texture.

Pâté, Rillette, Terrine and Confit

To round out a charcuterie platter, include French-style or country-style pâtés, terrines, rillettes or confit. Figuring out which to choose can be confusing can be confusing without a garde manger diploma, so we asked Rob Levitt, a former chef and now co-owner of The Butcher & Larder in Chicago, to give us brief definitions.

“Traditionally, a pâté was baked in a pastry crust and a terrine was layered in a dish called a terrine,” Levitt explains. “The terms are used interchangeably now with pâté usually indicating ground meat versus a terrine indicating larger pieces of meat. A confit is anything cooked in its own renderings, i.e., duck cooked in duck fat or tomatoes cooked at a very low temperature in their own juices. A rillette is meat that has been cooked confit-style, then separated from its cooking juices and finally whipped into a paste with the juices (mainly fat) emulsified back in.”

Most popular at butcher and charcuterie counters are pâtés and terrines. They are typically made of veal, duck, pork or their livers, salmon or vegetables. In higher-end stores and restaurants you’ll also find pâtés made from pheasant, rabbit and venison. However, Levitt says they still sell quite a bit of good oldfashioned chicken liver pâté.

Ways to Pair Cheese with Charcuterie

Typically charcuterie is selected first and then cheese is paired to that selection. There are a few ways to think about selecting cheese, but understand that it’s different from how you would create a cheese platter with salumi on the side.

Style and Origin

Pair the country of origin, or style, of charcuterie with cheese from the same country of origin or style. For example, a local handmade air-dried chorizo is made in the Spanish style of using sweet paprika, pairs well with salty Spanish-style manchego cheese. Pair an Italian-style soppressata with aged Fiore Sardo.

Aged

Dry-cured and smoked sausages are aged (preserved) and pair magnificently with aged cheeses. But don’t limit yourself to the expected Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino. Try aged (3 month +) cheeses made from different types of milk such as a cow’s milk aged blue, a cave-aged Cheddar or a Gruyère-style Wisconsin cheese. Or try an aged sheep’s or goat’s milk cheese. For example, Laketek suggests pairing an Italian-style soppressata with an 11-month aged Giunco Gran Ducco.

Typically charcuterie is selected first and then cheese is paired to that selection.

Smooth and Assertive

Pâtés, rillettes and terrines are not cured or smoked; they are preserved primarily by a high ratio of fat. Most are soft enough to spread on bread and work well with smooth, assertive cheeses. The most common choice would be a ripe brie, but other semi-soft cheeses such as Chaumes, Boursault, Taleggio and aged farmstead goat cheese are divine.

All of our experts agree on one thing, and that is a charcuterie platter needs accoutrements. Traditional garnishes served with charcuterie include capers, caperberries, cornichons, dates, figs, fig paste, lingonberries, lightly dressed microgreens, olives, pink peppercorns, honeycomb, toast points, garlic toasts and toasted nuts. Laketek also suggests lightly seasoned tomatoes, torta fritta and aged balsamic vinegar. None recommend juicy fruits such as peaches, melon, oranges or grapes.

Rather than serving a charcuterie platter for survival, we now eat and think about it as a way to start a meal, entertain at parties, be served as a snack, added to a sandwich, munched on alfresco, or enjoyed at a picnic. It’s a completely new world to think of these old world ways as simply delicious and more than just preserving food and tradition. The charcuterie for this story was supplied by four businesses that are known for working to the highest standards. Publican Quality Meats and The Butcher & Larder are traditional local whole animal butchers who make their own fresh sausage but also sell dry-cured salumi made by West Loop Salumi or Bolzano Artisan Meats. Both Bolzano and West Loop Salumi have online stores and nationally supply fine restaurants and specialty retailers. West Loop Salumi has a small retail operation where you can drop in, taste and take home––kind of like a wine tasting room for salumi.

The Butcher & Larder

(and meal carry-out) thebutcherandlarder.com 1026 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60642 773.687.8280

West Loop Salumi

(and tasting room) westloopsalumi.com 1111 W. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60607 312.255.7004

Publican Quality Meats

(and restaurant) publicanqualitymeats.com 825 W. Fulton Market Street Chicago, IL 60607 312.445.8977

Bolzano Artisan Meats

bolzanomeats.com Milwaukee, WI 53212 414.426.6380