Curing & Smoking
Overview
Join us for a meat curing course led by Steve Williams, founder of Good Game, one of the UK’s leading artisan charcuterie businesses. With a commitment to quality and a pioneering approach to nitrate-free charcuterie, Steve brings a wealth of expertise to River Cottage.
Years ago, Steve attended a course at River Cottage HQ, and now he’s back as our head tutor for curing, smoking, and charcuterie, collaborating with Hugh and Executive Chef Gelf on our exclusive charcuterie range.
This introductory course is perfect for beginners eager to learn charcuterie without needing expensive equipment. Whether you’re a smallholder with pigs or a home enthusiast wanting to create unique cured meats, this course is tailored for you.
Steve will guide you through essential techniques and processes for salt-based curing and hot and cold smoking, focusing on key cuts of pork. You’ll leave equipped to make delicious cured sausages like salami and chorizo, as well as “whole muscle” charcuterie, simple ham, and bacon.
For those looking to enhance their skills, basic pork butchery knowledge is beneficial. We recommend combining this course with our Pig in a Day course to maximise your learning experience.
Highlights
- Learn about cures, salts and nitrates
- Basic butchery
- Take part in making salami, chorizo and air-dried hams
- Introduction to hot and cold smoking
- Leave with confidence to begin your charcuterie journey
- Take away some bacon to finish curing at home
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 learning about the start of your curing journey: how to source the best pigs and pork, the qualities different breeds, and an outline of butchery for charcuterie production. Next you’ll move on to curing salts, cures and (optional) nitrates as well as Steve’s recommendations for starting equipment.
SESSION TWO
You’ll create both a brine and a dry cure mix, and learn how these can be used in various recipes to make traditional ham, coppa, bacon, ham hocks and a River Cottage favourite, face bacon.
LUNCH
Tuck into a delicious lunch, prepared by our chefs, including tastings of River Cottage charcuterie
SESSION THREE
After lunch you will learn about fermented sausages like chorizo, salami and saucisson, as well as how to wash, wrap, tie and hang your products.
SESSION FOUR
To finish the day you’ll discover both hot and cold smoking techniques, and how these can be used for cheese fish and chicken as well as the pork products you’ll be familiar with.
DEPARTURE
Head up to the car park for 5pm with your own bacon to enjoy at home and the knowledge to begin you 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.
