People have dried meat to preserve it for thousands of years. The practice seems to have arisen independently in both South America and Africa, with the two traditions cross-pollinating with the Spanish conquests of the Americas. The Native Americans eventually adopted the Spanish word for their dried meat, ‘charque‘, changed the inflection and morphed it [...]

So, it’s January, and it’s very, very cold at the moment. That means that now is the perfect time to cure some meat and hang it out to dry in a shed, outside of a refrigerator, without too much fear of death from botulism. I exaggerate slightly – botulism is very rare, and basic hygiene [...]

So, I’d made this Vietnamese-style noodle salad with a rib of beef, and Tweeted a picture, and Rich asked me to write a post about it for his blog. I agreed (I was quite chuffed actually but don’t tell him) and he gave me access details and then I forgot about it. Time passed and [...]

So, cold isn’t it? All of a sudden, those rolled pieces of brisket and the big slabs of pork belly in the butcher’s window don’t seem like such a bad idea. Nor do the ox tails, hanging in braces on butcher’s hooks like some sort of skewered alien lifeforms. Well, never one to shy away [...]