The rillettes are then refrigerated and can be stored for up to 6 months. Traditionally, a small layer of fat is poured on top of the meat to seal the surface. Once the meat has slowly cooked for about four hours it can be portioned into small ramekins or mason jars. It’s typically lightly seasoned with thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and warm spices.

It’s made with pork belly and shoulder that is cooked very slowly so that it doesn’t develop color or become crispy. Rillettes are the French version of a spreadable charcuterie dish. Jowl rubbed with sweet and smoky paprika would make a great addition to steamed mussels or a seafood risotto.ĬLICK HERE to get culinary articles delivered to your inbox weekly with the in-sight newsletter Just like with the nduja, the spices can be switched up. Guanciale can be cut into cubes and used to sauté or sliced and added to pasta. The guanciale is then cured in salt for a few days or can be hung and dried for up to three weeks. Once the jowl is cleaned and trimmed of any gland it’s rubbed liberally with salt and other spices, traditionally pepper, thyme, fennel, and other Italian spices. The jowl should have some amount of cheek meat so that when sliced it looks layered, similar to bacon. Guanciale is a cured Italian meat made from pork jowl, another deliciously fatty pork cut. Szechuan peppercorn and ginger nduja perhaps?ĬLICK HERE to see last month's Culinary Chronicles: Where to Eat and Drink in Chicago 2015 For the adventurous meat artisan, the blend of pepper used can be adapted for other cuisines. The possibilities for nduja are endless anywhere you can spread butter, you can spread nduja. Because of the high fat content, nduja will not lose as much weight during the drying process. The blend is then stuffed into hog or beef casings and then hung to dry for anywhere from two to eight weeks depending on the type of casing. To make nduja, the ground belly is mixed with pepperoncino, cure, and a starter culture (optional). Nduja is packed with a Calabrian red pepper called pepperoncino and in some recipes it can comprise up to 30% of the salami. The high level of fat gives the salami its characteristic spreadability.

It’s typically made from fatty pork cuts such as belly. Nduja (en-DOO-ya) is a spreadable salami that originated in southern Italy. These recipes can be prepared with basic charcuterie tools and will add depth and complexity to almost any dish. Fear not! Simple artisan meats such as nduja, guanciale, and rillettes are ideal for beginner meat crafters. Because some artisan meats can be complex, a novice cook may be intimidated by the process. It provides a medium for a cook’s craftsmanship to really shine through. The preparation of artisan meats is perhaps one of the greatest ways that a chef can demonstrate their culinary artistry and skill. I was introduced to the idea of nose-to-tail cookery and made everything from pancetta to bath chaps. Most chefs I’ve met have gone through a serious cured, dried, or crafted meat phase at some point in their career.

Meat artisan