Advanced Charcuterie
Overview
Join River Cottage alumni and renowned UK artisan charcutier Steve Williams as he elevates your charcuterie skills to new heights. This course is perfect for individuals with some experience in making charcuterie who wish to refine their techniques and produce charcuterie regularly on a larger scale. This includes professional chefs, butchers, smallholders, and meat producers aiming to create artisan charcuterie and smoked meats for public sale.
It’s ideal if you already possess some knowledge of butchery (especially pork butchery), but this can be supplemented later (such as through the River Cottage Pig in a Day course). On the day, there will be an overview of key cuts, though a detailed butchery demonstration will not be included.
As one of the UK’s leading commercial artisan charcutiers, Steve will guide you through all essential aspects of small-scale commercial charcuterie production. You’ll also explore ways to preserve meat and gain practical experience in crafting an impressive charcuterie board.
Please note that this course does not offer a health and safety certification for charcuterie production; you will need to coordinate this with your local Environmental Health Officer.
Highlights
- Learn about sourcing the right pigs and achieving carcass balance.
- Take part in making a variety of cured meats such as coppa, speck, pancetta, guanciale, lomo/lonzo, dried hams, or culatello.
- Discussions on professional equipment, including starter kits, smokers, and drying chambers.
- Guidance on testing your products and environment to meet the standards needed for professional charcuterie creation.
- Explore ways to preserve meat using hot and cold smoking techniques to create things like bresaola, pastrami, salt beef, and venison ham.
Your day
10:00 - 17:00
Make yourself at home
You will meet your host and start the day with tea, coffee, and a treat fresh from the kitchen.
SESSION ONE
Begin the day discussing sourcing the best type of pigs and pork for charcuterie, carcass balance, and an outline of butchery for charcuterie production. Next, you’ll move on to curing salts, cures, and nitrates, as well as Steve’s recommendations for a professional artisan charcuterie starter pack.
SESSION TWO
You’ll create a brine and dry cure mix and learn how these can be used in various recipes such as traditional ham, coppa, speck, pancetta, guanciale, lomo/lonzo, dried hams (pressed, chump, bone-in), and culatello.
LUNCH
Tuck into a delicious lunch prepared by our chefs, including a tasting of our own River Cottage charcuteries.
Session Three
After lunch, it’ll be time to cover professional techniques for washing, wrapping, tying, and maturing your charcuterie. You’ll discuss the sourcing of casings and learn how to make chorizo, salami, and nduja.
Session Four
To finish the day, you’ll learn about commercial salami cabinets and drying/fermenting chambers. You will also look at professional smokers and how to use hot and cold smoking techniques to create dishes like bresaola, pastrami, salt beef, and venison ham.
Departure
Head up to the car park by 5 PM with the confidence to begin the next stage of your artisan charcuterie journey
Further Information
Directions
This course is run from River Cottage HQ on the Dorset/Devon borders. Full address details of HQ will be provided once you have booked.
Licensed Venue
We are a licensed venue. We have a wide selection of the finest organic wines available to purchase.
Accommodation
If you would like to stay at the heart of River Cottage, we offer overnight accommodation at River Cottage HQ in our beautiful 17th century farmhouse. We have three stylishly refurbished bedrooms for B&B plus the 2-bedroom Gardener's Cottage. These get booked quickly so for more information go to rivercottage.net/stay to book. Alternatively, we have put together a list of our local accommodation which includes B&Bs, self-catering, hotels and camping.
Suitability
We would advise that this course is only really suitable for 12 years of age and upwards. Under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult. We put these guidelines in place for the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all our guests.
Allergy Advice
Sorry, we’re afraid this course is not suitable for those with allergies or specific dietary requirements. However we do run courses that are gluten free, vegetarian and vegan friendly. Please get in touch if you have any questions or need further details.
