Charcuterie Masters 2017

View of the Empire State Building on my cab ride in.

DAY 1:

In late February, I ventured back to the tri-state area for Charcuterie Masters 2017 and a chance to rub elbows with the finest purveyors of cured meat in America. As I rambled through the city I once called home for a couple of months,  my mind was caught in a stampede of good memories - apprenticing with Fleishers Craft butchery, Yankee games on crisp autumn nights, and all the good food... 

Yeah, I kinda missed it.

Since I was back in the Big City, I decided to check out what the trendsetters were laying down in terms of charcuterie. Bar Boulud was heavily recommended  – so it was Bar Boulud for lunch. 

The charcuterie board at Bar Boulud - pâtés on pâtés on pâtés

It didn’t take long for me to order. 

In a few minutes, I had a glass of one of their red wines, a massive board of pâtés, and a colorful assortment of condiments. The Pâté Grand-Père was simply fantastic – it probably had something to do with the foie gras and truffles inside. The rest of the pates and terrines were interesting, but didn’t compare to the Pâté Grand-Père. Surprisingly, only one other form of charcuterie made the board, a French Saucisse seche.

It was a nice change in cuisine. 

Chelsea Market - one of my favorite spots in Manhattan.

I wandered around Manhattan the rest of the afternoon, exploring places like White Gold Butchers and Chelsea Market. I was killing time until my dinner reservations at Agern.

I had to go check out White & Gold Butchers and see what all the buzz was about. It's all true.

Agern is a season-driven restaurant developed by Chef Claus Meyer, who, for the last thirty years has been reinstating quality and unlocking the potential of the Danish food culture. It was an incredible meal that transplanted me back to my Nordic adventures in Copenhagen. 

The opening course at Agern - oyster on ice.

A combination of fresh fish and preserved vegetables in broth.

The next morning I dedicated to the NYC Fermentation Festival held at the Brooklyn Expo Center. I made my way down the rows, tasting craft brews, kombucha, and kimchi. Brooklyn Brine, one of my favorite pickle companies was in attendance along with Six Point Brewery - one of the best damn craft beers out there. I also ran into the  Ends Meat booth, owned by friend John Ratliff. John wasn’t there that day, but a lot of his cured meat was and as always, it was top notch.

Brooklyn Brine has the best pickles out there!

Ends Meat's Nduja - a spicy spreadable salami that will knock your socks off - its one of my personal favorites.

Six Point - the best craft brewery - besides Shiner Bock, of course. It had been awhile since I had tasted some of their hops.

That night, in the shadows of the Met’s baseball stadium, the great charcuterie gathering began. After a rather cramped subway ride, I stumbled into Flushing Town Hall and was immediately greeted with good food and libations. The hall was packed with people – all with one common interest – cured meat.

I’ve said it many times – the meat world is really small. Social media has allowed me to connect with many other butchers across the nation. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one having awkward first time encounters that evening.

Heeeeyyyyyy, (know the face but blanking on the name) there…… buddy! Nice to meet ya.

Matt Levere of Urban Butcher,  George Turkette of Turchetti's Salumeria, and I at Charcuterie Masters 2017. These two guys are masters of their craft and leaders in the American charcuterie movement - I was honored at the chance to chat and get to know them.

Highlights of my night include:

• Prosciutto, cured six years without the use of artificial nitrates, by Rodrigo Duarte. His booth was layered with hams estimating almost $80,000 in total. His guys sliced on two legs of prosciutto for more than three hours that night. He ended up taking home a few prizes because of his outstanding products.

6 year old prosciutto - some of the best out there.

• Hure de Porc, a pork tongue and pistachio head cheese, from Smoking Goose Meatery. Another award winner.

Hure de Porc with pork tongue and pistachios - a no-doubt winner from Smoking Goose Meatery. This is another version of head cheese.

• Salami – there was plenty of it and various flavor combinations. I definitely left with some inspiration and I cannot wait to test out some flavor combos I picked up.

A variety of salami displayed at one of the booths at Charcuterie Masters 2017.

An amazing Molé salami from Elevation Charcuterie out of Denver, CO.

Francois Vecchio and I at Charcuterie Masters 2017.

• Francois Vecchio - Midway through the evening, I ran into Francois Vecchio Francois Vecchio, often dubbed the “Godfather of American Charcuterie.” Before immigrating from Switzerland, Francois studied and mastered German, Italian, French, Spanish meat craftsmanship (He is also fluent in all those languages in addition to English.) He is often credited for starting the cured meat movement in America back in the early 1980’s. We chatted for awhile about Europe and my travels and then the conversation naturally drifted to the state of charcuterie in the USA. Francois explained that Americans have now figured out how to produce cured meats, but the quality was still lacking. Francois urged me to get back to Europe as soon as possible and to keep learning. It was such an honor to meet such an important figure in the industry.

The last hour of the event was reserved for the presentation of awards. Submissions had been sent in from across the nation and judged the previous day. I’m sure the judges had their hands full! We watched and applauded as each categorical winner was announced. 

By this time, the hall had begun to empty. I shook a few more hands, took a last few selfies with new friends, and hit the pavement and made my way back to the subway. Charcuterie Masters was an unforgettable experience – For the first time, I really got to connect with the “movers and shakers” in the American meat game. In conversation with them, I learned about obstacles and challenges some of them are dealing with in today’s culinary climate. I also picked up a lot of valuable tips and tricks that will further enhance my own products. I am happy to see this movement growing in America and I want to see it continue.

Congratulations to all the winners of Charcuterie Masters 2017. 

Some award winning cured coppa  in the VIP section of Charcuterie Masters 2017.

Meating Fellow Revolutionaries

This is the second of a three-part series… Catch up by reading Road Trippin’ Across Europe  and Manifesto Origins.

In the beginning, I was just an extra – tagging along with Kate and Dominique.

Man, I was damn lucky. What ended up happening in Copenhagen in the confines of Folkets Madhus on that late August weekend changed not only my life, but potentially butchers across the world.

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We journeyed into the industrial side of Copenhagen on Thursday afternoon. The streets were lined with soccer fields, communal gardens, and countless bicyclists. Nestled between a couple of old warehouses laid our destination: Folkets Madhus.

There we were met with open arms – Michael Museth introduced us to his team and gave us a quick tour around his impressive facility. Folkets Madhus is comprised of:

• a large commercial kitchen,
• a dining hall for catering events,
• a sausage preparation room,
• an incredible teaching kitchen,
• and office space available for rent to similar businesses.

Did I mention the Cold War-era bomb shelter out back? Or the organic garden on top of the bomb shelter?

The Cold War era bomb shelter behind Folkets Madhus.

That night, we had a traditional Danish meal of stegt flæsk med persillesovs  and got acquainted with Hendrik and the Viking contingent of the Butchers' Manifesto.  In case you are wondering what stegt flæsk med persillesovs is, it is fried slices of pork belly with a parsley sauce.

The next day, butchers slowly trickled through the front door. They came from various points in Europe and North America: butchers from Oregon, Canada, London, Amsterdam, Gascony, Poland, Germany, Denmark…. and of course Texas.

Michael welcoming those from close and afar.

Michael constantly made sure we felt comfortable and at home – he even showed us a pork shoulder without a purpose in cold storage.

In a room full of butchers, that pork shoulder didn’t have a chance!

I immediately broke out my knives and removed all the bones.  I scored the skin on the opposite side and Dominique took over from there.  He gave the shoulder some salt and pepper as well as a beer to braise in. Since Michael had casually talked about Texas barbecue earlier in the day – I felt it was a perfect time to break out my great-grandmother's recipe.

Some good Texas BBQ sauce coming to a boil.

While I prepared the sauce, Dominique took a pork tenderloin, covered it in mustard and placed it in the oven. Then he decided it was time for my final test under his supervision: Pâté de Campagne.

Taking the unused scraps and unwanted pieces of meat, along with potatoes, onions, and blanched liver, we made good use of Michael’s commercial kitchen. Two hours later, I had four beautiful terrines of pâté resting, waiting to be appreciated by my new meat friends and connoisseurs.

French pâtés ready to hit the oven.

Not to be outdone, the Danes got busy in the kitchen as well. Gustav, a Danish master butcher the same age as I, prepared Rullepølse – rolled pig belly with sage, tied, put into a mold and boiled.

Gustav going to work on the pork belly

Absolutely amazing flavor!

As the crowd gathered, I shook hands and got to know some of the guys. Who would have thought I would run into a familiar face, but there was John Ratliff, owner of Ends Meat in Brooklyn. I originally met John back in NYC when I was apprenticing at Fleishers. He had given us a tour of his shop where he produces a wide variety of Italian-style charcuterie. He and his shop were one of the driving forces that originally led me to France to learn charcuterie.

The meat world is so small!

John Ratliff of Ends Meat, Brooklyn, NY

That evening, all of the butchers gathered around the large table in Folkets Madhus to officially begin the summit. Michael told his inspirational story and his motivation for the gathering.  One by one, people stood and formally introduced themselves until it was time to “break bread.” After a few beers, Michael suggested we head to bed to rest up for the long day ahead of us. Slowly, the crowd of butchers drifted across the street to an indoor soccer pitch (field), crowded with yellow, single person tents.

It's not the Ritz, it's the Yellow Tents

to be continued...