The term “charcuterie” encompasses all preserved meats, most of which were originally eaten by peasants, who found ways of turning scraps and odd cuts into something delicious as well as long-lasting, says Brendan Collins. These days, of course, terrines, pâtés, cured meats and the like are highly valued, and a good charcuterie spread is a thing to behold.
Curing meat is intense, technical and timeconsuming, hard even for restaurants to get right, so I don’t generally advise doing it at home. But one of the more underappreciated facets of being a good cook is becoming a discerning shopper. First, consider charcuteries as divided into six categories:
• Dried salamis, such as Spanish chorizo, Italian soppressata and French saucisson sec
• Whole muscles, such as prosciutto, speck, coppa, bresaola, bacon and…
