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You are here: Home / Archives for charcuterie

Stephanie Says

STEPHANIE SAYS

giant cheese wheel and slices with community food co-op deli worker

by Stephanie Willard, Downtown Specialty Cheese

The cheese case can be overwhelming. Don’t know where to start? These selections offer something to please everyone.

young creamy gouda cheese

Artikaas 3 Month Gouda

Creamy, affordable, goodness. This cheese has a mild, but decadent, flavor. It's good by itself or melted into frittatas. I now always have this at home along with my other long time favorite, Coastal Cheddar.

Uses: Great melted into frittatas or eaten by itself as a snacking cheese. Mild and satisfying.

coastal cheddar cheese on a wooden board with pear

Coastal Cheddar

This cheddar is matured at the Ford Farm Dairy located on the world heritage Jurassic Coast line in the salty sea air. It is rugged and mature and has crunchy tyrosine bits that I love. It's sharp enough for a kick, but smooth enough to melt.

Uses: Great for cooking. Use anywhere you might use a traditional cheddar or serve on a charcuterie board with cheese and crackers. 

Harmony Fields Fleecemaker

This is our lovely, local sheep milk feta from the Skagit Valley. It’s creamy, tart and so good. It’s only available from April to October, so this is the only feta I buy this time of year. Harmony Fields is a regenerative farm that is known for its sheep cheese but offers other products such as wool and organic herbs.

Uses: Great to eat fresh. Add to a mezze platter and sprinkle with za'taar, or eat on top salads and pastas. 

sheep's milk cheese peril papillion

Pérail Papillon

Melt-in-your-mouth, buttery, full but mild flavor, with notes of sweet grass and wildflowers. A thick, creamy disc of fresh sheep’s milk with a fudgy center and downy velvet rind. The sheep graze lush floral pastures on the Causses, a group of limestone plateaus rich in minerality in the South of France.

Uses: At room temperatures, it gets almost unctuous and runny, making it perfect to spread on crackers or a baguette with sour cherry jam and toasted nuts on the side.

Smoked Scamorza

This cheese is a locally-made favorite. It's a relative of mozzarella, but smoked and aged making it bold, buttery and slightly more firm than the mozzarella you're used to.

Uses: A great melting cheese. This is ideal for pizza, burgers, and grilled cheese.

Pairing and Charcuterie: 

Payson Breton Salted French Butter: My absolute favorite! It used to be a “fancy” butter to have at home when we were hosting dinner or going to friends’ homes. Now it’s in my fridge all the time.

Divina Mediterranean Pickled Beets: So delicious. They’re perfect this time of year with feta or chevre on salad mix.

Arnaud Pitted Nicoise: I’ve become lazy and only buy pitted olives now. These haven’t lost their integrity by being pitted, like some other olives. They’re little flavor pops on any kind of salad. Pasta or otherwise.

Divina Chopped Calabrian Peppers: These are spicy, smoky and a bit fruity. I’ve used them in marinara sauce and topped onto vermicelli bowls. A little can go a long way.

Effie’s Oatcakes: These are sweet and savory. It says they’re good with cheese, but I just eat them by themselves. So good with tea. When I have eaten them with cheese, honey chevre is the hit!

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DELI & CATERING| HOT OFF THE PRESS| SPECIALTY CHEESE| THE CO-OP DIFFERENCE charcuterie| cheddar| cheese| cheese tray| French butter| gouda| olives| sheep's cheese

How to Charcuterie

New to charcuterie?

Try these simple serving suggestions. Add your favorite mustards or other condiments, but keep it relatively simple to let the flavors of these quality, handcrafted meats shine..

charcuterie salami cheese ale French bread

Fra’ Mani sopressata

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Genepi Alpine tomme de savoie

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hearty ale

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Avenue Bread or Breadfarm crusty baguette

charcuterie mortadella salami, pickled peppers, artichokes, rolls

Fra’ Mani mortadella

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Mama Lil's pickled peppers

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Cucina & Amore jarred artichoke quarters

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organic olive oil

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crusty sweet roll

charcuterie prosciutto salami cheese slices French bread

Creminelli prosciutto cotto

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butter

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Avenue Bread or Breadfarm crusty baguette

or

use in any sandwich or recipe calling for ham

charcuterie salami, broccolini, jalapenos, and anchovies

Fra’ Mani capicollo

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broccoli rabe

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Jeff's Naturals pepperoncini peppers

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anchovies

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garlic

Braise the broccoli rabe in olive oil with anchovies, garlic, and a little salt until tender. Slice focaccia through the middle to create two sides. Toast the bread to medium brown on its cut side. Brush with extra virgin olive oil and rub with garlic. Arrange the broccoli rabe, anchovies, and garlic all over the surface of the bread and top with thinly sliced spicy capicollo and Calabrian peppers. Serve open-faced.

charcuterie salami and cheese slices and brie

Creminelli Calabrese Italian salami

or

Milano Italian salami

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Coastal cheddar (England)

or

Fromager D’Affinois brie (France)

charcuterie salami pepper slices butter French bread

Fra’ Mani salame rosa

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Mediterranean Organic roasted red and yellow peppers

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Wildwood aioli

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ciabatta roll

DELI & CATERING charcuterie| deli| meat| traditional

Charcuterie

by Robin Elwood, Downtown Deli Assistant Manager

deli worker handing wrapped package to customer, salami

Mike in the Cordata deli will slice your charcuterie to order (with a smile!).

The Co-op is proud to announce the arrival of Fra’ Mani and Creminelli charcuteries! Co-op deli staff sought out the highest quality, artisan, handcrafted, additive-free meats for our shoppers, and we are excited to share them with you. Curious to learn more about what makes these two purveyors exceptional? Read on, and ask for a sample the next time you are in the deli.

the highest quality, artisan, handcrafted, additive-free meats

Fra’ Mani, based in Berkeley, California, represents approximately a decade of artisanal, hand-packed, naturally cured meat. Started by slow-food chef Paul Bertolli, their mission is to “keep old world traditions alive...using ingredients of the highest quality from sustainable sources.” Their meat, chiefly pork, comes from family farmers committed to the well-being of their animals and their land. The animals are never given antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, growth-promoting agents, or meat by-products, and are raised on pasture or in deeply bedded pens.

Creminelli, the other main supplier of the Co-op’s new charcuterie assortment, is at least a fourth-generation family producer of Salumi. The current generation moved from Italy to Utah in 2007, bringing the company with them, and searched for a landscape and an heirloom breed of pig suitable for making their traditional recipes. Their Duroc-breed pigs are raised in open living conditions, with all-natural standards similar to Fra’ Mani’s.

Many artisan producers pride themselves on the “story” that goes with their food, and both Fra’ Mani and Creminelli’s websites put family origin and culinary vision front and center. However, any corporation can write a vague story to go with their product. What sets these producers apart is a verifiable commitment to specific animal welfare and sustainability practices. And, of course, by their insistence that what they do creates an especially delicious product.

The real test comes when a room full of professional meat eaters sits in a back room at the Co-op’s Cordata store passing around a plate of charcuterie. Andy Adams, a representative from Peterson (one of the Co-op’s distributors), was running the deli slicer and leading a training on the vocabulary and variety of Italian-style preserved meats.

Andy led the group quickly through the definitions: salumi is a general Italian term for salted, cured, meats including salami, mortadella, sopressata, lardo, porchetta, cotta, etc. The cuts of meat, spices added, and curing times vary, but all of them originated as ways of preserving meat before refrigeration. They have endured due to both their durability and their tastiness.

“One of the great things about salami calabrese is that, despite the Calabrian pepper flakes giving it some heat, you also taste the flavor of the heirloom pork. Unless a customer wants something different, slice it about as thin as a dime,” said Andy.

At this point, Andy pauses and looks around the room. Everyone is eating salami calabrese. No one is listening to him.

“Oh,” he said. “Should I slice some more of that and hand it around again?”

The Cordata deli launched the new line of charcuterie first, and customers have been wildly responsive. Additionally, the deli team has some blockbuster sandwich suggestions utilizing slices of the various offerings. Downtown, the deli remodel delayed the arrival of these new products, but some of the smaller salami is available in the specialty cheese case. If all goes as planned, the full assortment will also be available in the Downtown deli by early February—sliced to order, with descriptions and samples galore.

And, yes, it includes that salami calabrese that stops all conversation.

Learn more at framani.com and creminelli.com.

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DELI & CATERING charcuterie| cured| deli| meat| natural| traditional

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package of tortillas con madre tortillas locally made in bellingham washington

A Visit To Tortillas Con Madre

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo early this year by visiting one of our favorite local companies, Tortillas Con Madre! Hear Lupita’s story and check out behind the scenes footage of production day at the tortilla factory.

take and bake entree spinach manicotti

Take Home Dinner Tonight!

From the Co-op Deli kitchens to your oven. Choose from a rotating selection of four delicious entrees. Need dinner in a flash? Grab a Co-op deli take-and-bake entree, and simply add a salad or side dish. Boom! You’re done!

wooden board with nuts, sliced crusty bread, cheese cubes, and sliced apples and charcuterie meats

Simple Charcuterie Board

A charcuterie and cheese board makes a welcome appetizer or even a fun snacky dinner. Select your favorite meats, cheeses, nuts, and fruits and enjoy a fun, casual meal.

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DOWNTOWN STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 8 am – 9 pm; deli service counter closes at 7 pm
CORDATA STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 8 am – 9 pm; deli service counter closes at 7 pm

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