All about the Sausage

Posted by Jacqueline Church Jan 23, 2009

Read about Sandrine's to see what Alsatians are doing, with choucroute and sausage and more. The smallest region in France has the largest concentration of culinary stars. Something good is going on there.

The other sausage post this week was about our friends at Cochon and what they're doing with their Cajun versions of sausage and charcuterie.

For centuries folks learned to utilize and preserve every bit of meat they grew. After all, the pig took resources to grow and nurture and you had to really get every bit of value out of it when it was slaughtered.

Some artisans and chefs doing great things with salumi, charcuterie, hot dogs, and choucroute include:

• Donald Link and Stephen Stryljewski of Cochon Butcher
• Chris Cosentino of Boccalone and Incanto
• Armandino Batali of Salumi
• Raymond Ost at Sandrine's

Michael Ruhlman's newest tome, Charcuterie is said to be fantastic and based on his other books I have read, I would recommend it without having seen it myself first.

Spanish are known for some pretty perfect pig products, too. It's rumored that there's a Navarra promotion going on right now in Boston and NYC - it's just kinda hard to find out what that means. Ooops.

Here's a brief bit on them.

If you're in Boston:

• Salumeria Italiana in the North End
• Las Ventas in the South End
• Savenors

All those purveyors can provide you with wonderful charcuterie.