Charcuterie Tools and Equipment
You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment and supplies to make charcuterie, but there are a few items, some essential, that will probably be unfamiliar to you. In most cases, these specialized tools will make your charcuterie making easier and ensure that your final product is safe and delicious. Any and all charcuterie materials—thermometers, casings, grinders, stuffers, smokers, smoking accessories, nets, seasoning, spices, scales—can be found at SausageMaker.com.
digital scale
You will need a digital scale that is accurate up to .5 gram. It’s also ideal if the scale can work in both grams and ounces, and if you can zero it out after placing a bowl or other vessel on the scale.
dry box
To make fermented meats you will need a room or chamber that maintains 58°F (14°C) and 83 percent relative humidity, with a very slow airflow. More on this on page 118–19.
fermentation chamber
To make fermented meats you will need a room or chamber that can
be held at 73°F (23°C) and 95 percent relative humidity, with very little or no airflow. More on this on page 132.
grinder
There is something really rewarding about making a simple sausage
or pâté using a hand-grinder. But if I have a good amount of product
to make or am trying to make an emulsification, I like the ease of using an electric grinder. A KitchenAid mixer with a grinder attachment is a good starting place. It can handle a decent amount of meat. However, if you plan on making most of the recipes in this book, any one-horsepower grinder with a steel grinder head is the way to go.
knives
You can do most of the tasks required in the charcuterie chapters of this book with two knives: a deboning knife and a sausage-making knife.
The Victorinox 6-inch (15-cm) deboning knife has a nice point
on the tip and not too much flex. It will help you easily get the meat off the bones and is great for removing sinew and unwanted fat.
A sausage-making knife isn’t absolutely necessary, but it will make your life a bit easier. It looks like a small paring knife but has thin needlelike points on the opposite edge of the blade. You use this end to puncture your casing if you get any air in it during sausage making.
pâté molds and slow-cooking vessels
I love a solid, good-looking pan with a tight-fitting lid for making
pâtés and slow-cooking meats. Le Creuset is my go-to brand; they aren’t cheap and they make you look fancy, but they are also just
damn fine cooking vessels.
pH meter
A pH meter measures the pH level of your product and provides the only way to know for sure whether or not you are making a safe fermented product. If you are making fermented meats, such as salami, this is a small investment to make for serious peace of mind. I use one from Hanna Instruments that is easy to calibrate and simple to read.
smoker
You can smoke most of the meats in this book using a Weber grill or any charcoal grill with a lid. But if you plan on smoking more than once or twice a year, buy an electric smoker with a heating pad that will burn your chips without you having to stoke the coals. My smoker of choice is the Little Chief.
stuffer
Although it’s possible to stuff sausages using a grinder, I personally don’t like to; it takes a bit of time to get the feel for it. For these
recipes, I would use a stand-up piston stuffer with a hand crank and
a capacity of up to 3
1⁄2 pounds (1.6 kg) of meat. Far and away the
best stuffer of this size is made by a German company called Dick.
thermometer
Buy one that you can calibrate easily. At home, I use a standard
thermometer with an adjustable dial. I calibrate it by making an ice
and water slurry, then setting the proper temperature as necessary.
To calibrate your thermometer, in a large pot, mix ice and water in equal parts, then place the thermometer into the ice slurry; it should read 32°F (0°C). If it doesn’t, adjust your thermometer until it displays the correct temperature when stuck in the ice bath.
water activity meter
This piece of equipment will let you know you are making a safe dry-cured or fermented product. A water activity meter measures the unbound water content of your product, and the more unbound water you remove from a dry-cured or fermented sausage, the better your chances of reducing spoilage. The industry standard is the Pawkit made by Decagon. This amazing meter will last for a lifetime of meat making. It is only used for dry-cured items.
Copyright © 2015 by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
