Olympia Provisions Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson
Disclaimer
I was sent a free copy of Olympia Provisions Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson in exchange only for my honest and unbiased review of Olympia Provisions Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson.
Portland’s Olympia Provisions began as Oregon’s first USDA-certified salumeria. Since then it has grown into a mini-empire, with two restaurants that ship out to fifty states. Olympia Provisions Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson has recipes for:
- confits
- pâtés
- sausages
- salami
- and more
Elias Cairo
Elias Cairo was born in Salt Lake City to a Greek family, used old world preparations and preservation methods to make their own meat. This practice helped to set the stage for Elias Cairo's interest in meat.Elias Cairo began cooking at a very young age in his father's restaurant. When Elias Cairo turned twenty he began his journey into becoming a chef with a European trade apprenticeship in Switzerland. Elias Cairo spent four years their learning his trade under Executive Chef Annegret Schlumpf.Elias Cairo moved to Kos, Greece where he apprenticed in a hotel kitchen and was responsible for developing menu items based on what farmers and fishermen brought him daily. Later Elias Cairo moved back to the US and to Portland, Oregon. When he is not curing meat, cooking, and trying new foods, Elias Cairo enjoys the Great Outdoors, fly fishing, and rock climbing.
Review
As I wrote at the top of this page: "I was sent a free copy of Olympia Provisions Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson in exchange only for my honest and unbiased review of Olympia Provisions Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson."
As many of you already know I enjoy the occasional foray into cooking, but I am far from a consistent cooker. Nor do I cook that often. However I do enjoy baking and trying new techniques. Considering how in depth this book went into cooking I sought the opinion of my sister who is truly passionate about all thing kitchen and food.
Now I want to warn everyone right away that there are a ton of meat pictures in this book and pictures of butchered meat. There was one very disturbing picture (to me) of pig's head. Now I have to be honest this picture alone kind of put me off the book because it made me feel completely sick. I was interested in this book mainly for cooking for others because I am a vegetarian and I was hoping to adapt some recipes to use tofu. I found many of the pictures disgusting. I was left feeling like I no longer wanted the book or any of the recipes. However I did keep looking through the book because I promised to review it.
The book literally has everything you need(and don't need) to know about butchery and cooking with butchered meat. It goes very in depth in fact it was actually difficult to locate actual recipes among the history and educational information.
The recipes themselves have a good layout they include:
- serving amount
- ingredients
- special equipment
- directions
- history/special information
- a picture
I personally would not recommend the book to anyone with a weak stomach as the pictures along can make you feel sick. However if meat is your thing than this is your book.