Since getting my Big Green Egg my way of thinking about grilling and barbeque has completely changed. For one thing it meant using charcoal: something I haven’t done since the old hibachi in the back yard when I was nine. When I bought the Egg it came with a bag of Big Green Egg lump charcoal: wood that had been made into charcoal by lighting it and removing the oxygen, such as burying it in sand. Nothing added, just a good burn that gives to my nostrils a heady smoke …

My cured meat adventures began with the purchase of Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman about three months ago. I had been purchasing random cookbooks for years, mostly discount books filled with step by step instructional recipes. This was my first topical cookbook that required you to read it front to back, as it exposes the reader to Charcuterie from a basic to moderate tasks. Once you get through it everything makes sense: we’ve been curing meat for storage since we harnessed fire (or since Prometheus gave it to …