DTLA: The Next Art of Charcuterie Classes at Cafe Pinot on April 11

 

Cafe Pinot is now offering charcuterie classes called the Art of Charcuterie.  I love cooking classes and I attended the first one last month and the next one on summer style sausages is on Saturday, April 11. Just fill out the form and return to Patina Restaurant Group for your spot.  The class is $75 and besides learning how to make charcuterie, you get to eat some as well! There’s a wine and cheese reception at the end of the class.

 

My class was on duck prosciutto (cured meat) and rillette (potted food). Our group was split up into two teams and I worked on the rillette. First you make duck confit.

We were introduced to this magical green stuff Cafe Pinot Chef Joe Vasiloff called Green Salt. He learned to make it when he worked for Thomas Keller though his background in charcuterie comes from learning to cook with his grandmother.

Luckily we got recipes of everything we made at the end.

Green Salt

makes approximately 2 cups

• 1-1/2 cups kosher salt
• 1 cup picked parsley (packed)
• 1/4 cup picked thyme leaves
• 3 each fresh bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon coarsley ground black pepper
• 3 each cloves of garlic (sliced)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a super fine consistency, so it resembles the texture of white sand.

It smelled so good! I wanted to put it on everything and Chef said it’d be great on other meats and as a marinade.

 

After roasting the legs came the fun part of shredding all the meat for the rillette. We buzzed it the food processor with duck fat to create the rillette.

 

Then you pack it into jars (or pot or ramekin) and top with more duck fat. It’s pretty much ready to eat but you’ll want to store it in the fridge and it’ll keep for 3-4 weeks.

 

The other team made duck prosciutto which involves curing duck breasts, wrapping then hanging the meat. After dry curing the meat for 7-10 days, it’s ready to eat as prosciutto.

I enjoyed my rillette and prosciutto with a glass of Pinot (of course!).

The next class is on Saturday, April 11. Then there’s a hiatus for the summer before resuming classes in the Fall. So be sure to catch the next one to learn how to make sausage.

Art of Charcuterie

• Saturday, April 11
• 12-2 p.m.
• wine and cheese reception following class
• Reservation form
• Return to Patina Restaurant Group at artofcharcuterie@patinagroup.com

Cafe Pinot

700 West 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90017  —  (213) 239-6500

© The Minty 2015