Charcuterie is getting a new, vegan look — “all of the smoke but none of the meat,” declares the New York Times. Chefs are experimenting with veggies and fruit, curing, smoking and serving them on a charcuterie. “We use the same ancient techniques of meat charcuterie — salting, curing, drying, fermenting and smoking,” says Will Horowitz @willhorowitz chef and co-owner of Ducks Eatery @duckseatery in Manhattan: “The trick is finding the right cocktail for each vegetable.”
Think Watermelon ham, radish prosciutto, burdock root jerky sticks, smoked carrot hot dots, smoked shiitake mushrooms, deviled kohlrabi and fire-charred Chioggia beets.
“Vegetable charcuterie is complicated,” adds Jeremy Umansky @tmgastronaut chef at Larder @larderdb in Cleveland and co-author of the book “Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation.” “To get the cure to penetrate the vegetable, first you have to soften it by smoking. But soften the cell structure too much, and the vegetable collapses. Smoke it too hot or too long, and you close the pores and dry it out. The texture definitely affects the flavor.”
Read more (New York Times)