Charcuterie - A new skill to learn for 2015

Feeding ourselves from the farm is one of our main goals for 2015.  We have many of the pieces in place to do this, but there are some things we need to add and some new skills to learn to make this really work.  Charcuterie (the craft of salting, smoking, and curing) is one of those skills. 

Last year we raised 2 pigs on pasture.  First time for us here at The Roost.  We learned a lot, and the whole process went better than expected.  Now we are enjoying having a freezer full of pork.  BUT... we still find ourselves going to the store to buy pepperoni, salami, and other cured meats.  There are many types we cant get easily here in our part of the world.  We have been pleased with our meat processors smoked bacon and ham, but we want more types and more control that they can give us.

This year we are planning on 4 pigs.  Two for family, and two for us.  To make the most of our two pigs, and of other meat we will be producing we will be adding some additional infrastructure (a smoker, and a drying room) and a new set of skills to the mix.  First in our resource list for this project is this book

 

There are some blogs, podcasts, and other sources that I also like and will feature later.  More on this as we get further into the adventure.