What the Heck is Charcuterie?

Charcuterie is a culinary artform that includes the cooking and preserving of a wide variety of meats, poultry, and seafood. I have had a passion for it for several years now. I use both hot and cold smoking techniques to make my own bacon, Canadian bacon, lox, smoked cheese and eggs, turkey, duck, chickens, beef roasts, ribs, butt roasts, pastrami (smoked corned beef), hams, salmon and whatever else I can get into my Weber kettle grill. I use a charcoal “snake” sprinkled with wood chips around the perimeter of the grill to cook low and slow for up to 11 hours at a consistent 250 degrees F. For cold smoking I use a soup can with holes drilled into the bottom and sides filled with wood chips and heat the bottom of the can. After I get it to smoking I remove the heat and just let it sit in the kettle. The method yields about 30 minutes of smoke time. I cold smoke only in cold weather to keep the heat inside the kettle under 90 degrees. Lox (cold smoked salmon) is ruined if it gets over 95 degrees. Same with bacon. Canadian bacon I slow cook and smoke to a safe 160 degrees. Pork Loin is where Canadian bacon comes from on the pig if you were interested. For eggs I poach them first and then cold smoke them (so they don’t get over cooked) for an hour. When I cook duck I put a tray under it to catch any fat that oozes out for use with duck confit or for a flavoring ingredient in other dishes. Today’s bacon is being smoked with pecan wood. One of my favorites is cherry wood. I use alder for lox. Often I’ll use mesquite for poultry or eggs. I also use apple, hickory, peach, maple, and whiskey barrel chips or a blend depending on where I want the flavors to go. I cure bacon, Canadian bacon, lox, and corned beef using Morton Tender Quick for several days before smoking the product. The Weber kettle is the most versatile cooking appliance for charcuterie that I think exits. I can bake, broil, slow cook, and cold smoke. It’s not charcuterie, but I bake pizzas on it as well as meat loaf and all manner of vegetables as long as they don’t fall through the grate. The included images will provide some insight into the tasty results of my hobby.

The charcoal "Snake"

Canadian Bacon:

Canadian Bacon sliced:

Bacon smoking and sliced:

Pizza!

Ham:

Lox and eggs being cold smoked:

Chicken:

At least it keeps me out of trouble sometimes : )