Jamie Bissonnette to Release a Charcuterie Cookbook

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Jamie Bissonnette, the recent recipient of a James Beard Award for Best Chef Northeast, is now coming out with his own cookbook dedicated to the art of charcuterie. Published by Page Street Publishing, The New Charcuterie Cookbook: Exceptional Cured Meats to Make and Serve at Home includes over 100 recipes covering everything from preserving and processing meat to creating ham, sausages, salami, pastrami, pates, and confit, using all parts of the animal. Tentatively set for release on August 26, the book spans material Bissonnnette has been developing since graduating from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale 19 years ago.

“The publisher came to me because they wanted to make an approachable charcuterie cookbook that people could execute at home,” Bissonnette says. “They didn’t want anything super restaurant-y. Most of the recipes people are going to look at and say, ‘yeah, I could easily do that.’ But they’re interesting combinations. It’s not a guide on how to make things like breakfast sausages or Italian sausages. I wanted to focus on more innovative stuff such as Vietnamese bologna, bacon, and Lebanese-style pork sausage.”

Sections in the book cover cooked charcuterie, offal, cold cuts, cured meats, and confit, with the Toro chef introducing ways to reproduce them using everyday kitchen equipment.

“I have a ‘Blood Sausage For Ninjas’ recipe that is more advanced, but I also have one for ‘Intermediates’ that can be done with a blender and plastic wrap,” Bissonnette say. “People always ask me all the time how I make duck prosciutto. You can make duck prosciutto in the refrigerator. You don’t need to have a curing room. Look, if you have a curing room—if you’ve invested in a place where you can equalize and cure stuff—you know what you’re doing. You don’t need my help. I wrote this book with someone like my dad in mind; someone who loves to cook, but isn’t a professional”

Most of the book was shot inside Bissonnette’s apartment with friend and photographer Ken Goodman. At his behest, Page Street will forego a hardcover edition and immediately release a more affordable paperback version.

“It’s not meant to be a coffee table book,” Bissonnette says. “This is not the type of cookbook you put on your coffee table and never cook out of. I think the recipes are approachable, but it does look pretty because Ken is a really sick photographer. He’s an old punk rock kid just like I am. It almost feels like two punk rock kids from two very different bands got together to do a one-off seven-inch.”