Pig Heaven: The Wonder of Cured Meat
Tuesday March 21 2006--A fine evening to gather for wine and cured meats. This evening I did just that, settling down to a comfortable discussion about all things salumi. I am not one to refuse a piece of cured meat. Pretty much no matter what sort of animal it comes from, I'll eat it.
The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco is known for its intriguing events, from talks given by the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Martin Luther King to casual evenings led by members. On this particular evening, the topic was cured meat. After a sampling of treats from three local salumieri, we settled down to hear them wax poetic on curing.
John Piccetti of Columbus Salame, Paul Bertolli of Fra'mani Handcrafted Salumi (with his first batch of product) and Chris Cosentino of Incanto Restaurant were joined by Harold McGee, aauthor of one of my favorite books, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.
Bertolli is the author of Cooking by Hand a theme of his curing process.
The salumieri clearly love their craft and McGee adores discussing how things like salt, butter, yeast, bacteria (and whatever else might go into our food) work together to give us the scrumptious things we eat, and how they are good for us.
I learned a lot about the making of cured meats. Besides the devoted attention each of these men give to creating a tasty delight, the message I received was that eating, and in particular, eating cured meats, is good and can be good for you.
McGee noted that the combination of salt and time is essential to making the process of curing meats work. We might have a fear of salt--with some concern for high blood pressure, for example. Nevertheless, McGee explained, the salt helps to preserve the meat while at the same time it actual kills those microbes that could be harmful to us while allowing those that are not harmful to grow. The happy result is that we achieve a flavorful and healthy cured meat.
There was a lengthy discussion about nitrites. They have received a lot of negative attention in the last 20 years. But the conclusion was that while nitrites can be dangerous if used in excess, are of the wrong sort and so on, there is no clear conclusion that nitrites which develop naturally in the curing process are a contributing factor to cancer. Part of the problem may lie in the tendency to add nitrite in order to hasten the process. Ingredients such as celery or cinnamon contribute nitrite in the proper way so that the cured meat product is flavorful and healthy.
I didn't need much convincing though. I simply enjoyed the discussion, though a little more sampling of meat and wine after might have put the crowning touch on the whole affair!
Tom
Sign up for my newsletter
The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco is known for its intriguing events, from talks given by the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Martin Luther King to casual evenings led by members. On this particular evening, the topic was cured meat. After a sampling of treats from three local salumieri, we settled down to hear them wax poetic on curing.
John Piccetti of Columbus Salame, Paul Bertolli of Fra'mani Handcrafted Salumi (with his first batch of product) and Chris Cosentino of Incanto Restaurant were joined by Harold McGee, aauthor of one of my favorite books, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.
Bertolli is the author of Cooking by Hand a theme of his curing process.
The salumieri clearly love their craft and McGee adores discussing how things like salt, butter, yeast, bacteria (and whatever else might go into our food) work together to give us the scrumptious things we eat, and how they are good for us.
I learned a lot about the making of cured meats. Besides the devoted attention each of these men give to creating a tasty delight, the message I received was that eating, and in particular, eating cured meats, is good and can be good for you.
McGee noted that the combination of salt and time is essential to making the process of curing meats work. We might have a fear of salt--with some concern for high blood pressure, for example. Nevertheless, McGee explained, the salt helps to preserve the meat while at the same time it actual kills those microbes that could be harmful to us while allowing those that are not harmful to grow. The happy result is that we achieve a flavorful and healthy cured meat.
There was a lengthy discussion about nitrites. They have received a lot of negative attention in the last 20 years. But the conclusion was that while nitrites can be dangerous if used in excess, are of the wrong sort and so on, there is no clear conclusion that nitrites which develop naturally in the curing process are a contributing factor to cancer. Part of the problem may lie in the tendency to add nitrite in order to hasten the process. Ingredients such as celery or cinnamon contribute nitrite in the proper way so that the cured meat product is flavorful and healthy.
I didn't need much convincing though. I simply enjoyed the discussion, though a little more sampling of meat and wine after might have put the crowning touch on the whole affair!
Tom
Sign up for my newsletter
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home