Re: absolute best books on charcuterie & sausagemaking?

[Guest guest]

Mati-

>I'm looking at the Ruhlman book for my husband. Suggestions? How

>about Jane Grigson's books? Kinsella's Professional

>Charcuterie? He's a food scientist and usually buys the

>professional version of whatever technique is the latest enthusiasm,

>but often cooks more from firendlier books - and my understanding is

>that Kinsella has techniques that are out of range, in terms of time

>and equipment, for the home cook. I don't want to end up buying a

>couple thousand dollars' worth of fancy equipment for a few months'

>pottering pleasure.

Ruhlman's _Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing_ is

a great resource; I'm not familiar with Grigson's work; forget about

_Professional Charcuterie_ -- it's oriented towards production, not

home cooking, and its recipes are dubious anyway.

D. A. Livingston's book _Sausage_ is a good, simple introduction, and

Jerry Predika's book _The Sausage Making Cookbook_ is also

worthwhile. Neither have the scope or depth of Ruhlman's book, which

might or might not be a good thing. There's also Rytek Kutas's book,

_Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing_, which is certainly

far-ranging but requires a lot of re-engineering to be healthy, as

it's very modernist in its approach -- i.e. sugar, nonfat milk

powder, curing salts, soy protein powder, etc.

Depending on your husband's personality and inclinations, I'd go with

either Ruhlman on the comprehensive end or Livingston or Predika for

a simpler introduction.

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[Guest guest]

Mati-

>How about Jane Grigson's books?

Just a followup. I got one of Grigson's books for Christmas, and so

far it's looking very good -- plenty of traditional, fatty

recipes. It's an old and out of print one, though (_The Art of

Making Sausages, Pates, and Other Charcuterie_) so it's possible that

her newer works have cut back on the fat.

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