Once again I had the great fortune of learning about charcuterie from butcher Morgan Maki. As a continuation from last week’s pig butchery, Morgan demonstrated how to cure pork for prosciutto, tasso, pancetta and guanciale.

We were welcome by warm sandwiches of house cured pastrami (why beef guys?) with sauerkraut and bottles of beer. The table had a whole shoulder on it, glistening knives were laid out and a tidy row of spices and herbs lined one side of the table. My own kitchen has an arsenal of spices we use in Indian food but this spread had a couple I’ve never learned to use- filè and juniper berries. Filè is ground sassafras leaves that would be used to impart “a grassy flavor.” Apparently filè it is more commonly used as a thickener in gumbo. The juniper berries provide a sharp clean flavor.

Morgan referred to a small black book that had formulas on protein to salt ratios. I loved the book, it had the mystique of a book of spells.

He followed his formulas with a robust scientific explanation on the curing process, the action of salts and nitrates on protein and bacteria. One great nugget of poetic knowledge he shared was that the long chains of amino acids that compose proteins get broken down with the curing process which makes more complex layers of flavor available to our tongues.

Morgan is fun to watch. He moves smoothly between meat science nerd to brutal M-A-N ripping bones out of meat with a sound I find hard to describe, a low tone ripping that perhaps only less fortunate athletes are familiar with.

He broke the shoulder down similar fashion to last week’s lesson. At one point the lively and curious group attending all gasped and chattered when they recognized the bacon cut.

They also all crowded in with their cameras and iphones (self included) when the pig head came out. One attendee called it the “money shot.” Morgan demonstrated how to cut out the jowl for guanciale, an unsmoked Italian bacon made specifically from the jowl.

Once he had his parts for the three curing processes, he began. Weighing protein, referring to the book of spells and sprinkling spices on the meat. It really just looked like Morgan massaging big hunks of flesh with salt and spices. Not much technique seemingly needed for that. The prosciutto preparation ended up looking like a mere pile of salt at the end.

It was the information along the way that was magic. Some helpful bits of knowledge I could write down fast enough included:

- Nitrates in meat are not inherently bad for you

- There are natural sources of nitrates such as celery juice and other leafy greens like collards and spinach. From my gardening perspective, this is making sense now because we use leafy green material as a nitrogen source to balance carbonaceous material in compost

- Kosher salt is used in curing because it has no anticaking agents or iodine and has consistently sized granules so its measurement is more exact. A very important detail if using salt to inhibit bacteria growth

- When “overhauling” the curing meats (changing out moisture; adding more salt; rotating meat in salt, etc.) the prosciutto is overhauled about every four days, the tasso every day and the other cured bacon style meats (belly and jowl).

Though I now feel confident enough to try this at home, I will need to look up formulas for correct amounts of salt to use. That said, Morgan’s basic preparations were:

Prosciutto: sprigs of rosemary and thyme and lightly crushed cloves of garlic nestled in the meat. About two boxes of kosher salt poured over the top. We were told that the action of the salt on the protein will move the herb flavors around in the meat. He explained how but this is for another post.

Tasso (a Cajun style ham): ample amounts of paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, file, brown sugar, black pepper, and garlic.

Pancetta and Guanciale: juniper berries; rosemary, bay leaves; black pepper; brown sugar; and coriander seeds.

Apparently the tasso could be ready to cook in a couple of days. At which point it can be cooked at 200F for 2 hours. The guancia or jowl could be hung and dried for 45 days, then sliced. Though Morgan made a point to say that Bi-Rite cures their meats in refrigeration to avoid any possible spoilage. For hanging you just need a cool dry place that will keep at a consistent 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit, like a cave. Once again my thoughts drift to defunct city drainage tunnels. But alas, that is going too far.