C.I.A. 3 & 4

Still another amazing day at the CIA. Day three was a day of organization & speed with one man less in our team the task at hand was rough but doable. day two's mise helped tremendously. We had six recipes to complete and completed all of them with precision. Day three tasks: start and stuff emulsified garlic sausage in beef middles and bring to pelical for smoking, creole beef & veal daube, smoked pheasant sausage, finish teté pressee, finish sulze. The day was short so speed was necessary 

Day 4

Because we cooked like seasoned pros yesterday, today was all about conversation and condiment building for Friday's feast. Today I decided to stay in 1st gear and break into my Santé salami for show and tell. After receiving permission from our chef I opened my airport inspected brown bag of cured meats. Inside was spec 9 months old, cold smoked  five spice cured duck prosciutto, saucisson sec that is filled with Berkshire, garlic & black pepper dry aged for 8 weeks using #2 curing salt and a 10 week old dry aged kielbasa that has no curing salt at all.  out of all of these fine specimens of charcuterie the most intriguing was the kielbasa and the saucisson sec. The flavor profiles and consistency  in texture in both are on point. Both sliced well and melted into your mouth as they should with the essence of cured meats.  The intriguing part was the absence of curing salt in one of them. The chefs words were "sexy". I was hoping for such words from an expert of charcuterie especially coming from a CIA chef. I knew they were good but not compared to the outside world, now they are and I feel good about it.  Sorry I have no photos of finished product unless Pete has some I'll find out and get back.