We continue our foodie series with Daisy Watson @Dinner.Life in search of some meaty questions with North Charcuterie

For as long as I (@dinner.life) can remember, I’ve been obsessed with charcuterie. Albeit back in the day, my habit for funky meat was a lot less glamourous. My dad would buy a huge stick of salami from Lidl at the weekend.

As a weird kid, I’d slice off chunks the size of my fist, stick a fork in it and eat it like a f*cking lollipop. My tastes may have become a little more discerning since then. But I’ve not risen above making myself a porky lollipop when presented with the opportunity.

I’m instinctually intrigued by local Kent produce. So you can imagine how jazzed I was to discover a new charcuterie producer had popped up in my own backyard. I’ve now munched my way through most of the North Charcuterie (@northcharcuterie) product list, and every single bite has been outstandingly flavourful. Each salami is packed full of sweet, unctuous fat, from healthy British rare-breed pigs. Without a doubt, these are some of the very best you’ll try. I spoke with the man behind the meat, Bill Gardner, to find out how he does it.

When and why did you get into the cured meat game?

Although I have spent almost 30 years working in the construction industry, I have always had an interest in food, recipes, cooking and good produce. I have always cooked outdoors, smoking food on various BBQs, coupled with visits in and around the Granada province of Spain.
That is where a love of the Spanish cured meats and the need to cure meats and fish prior to cold smoking came together. This expanded my interest, knowledge and skills by first making salamis and coppa ham at home… In late 2019, I started the journey for my cured meats, which is now known as North Charcuterie.

I’m obsessed with the natural funk and flavour of your salamis. What are your inspirations when developing new products?

There has always been a Spanish angle to many of our products, such as our Salchichon, Fuet and Sobrasada. We draw on some classics from the Italian larders with our Fennel and Calabrese Salamis.

Beyond that we have added some unique British Charcuterie products to the range. For example we found British Birch syrup several years ago.
Discovering a natural affinity with pork in the sweet but savoury somewhat earthy notes… this recipe has been developed into both a cure for hams and a salami, the birch & black pepper salami. This ‘unique’ angle led us to develop our porchetta salami, which draws on the tastes and textures of a classic porchetta, giving way to a super savoury flavour bomb with sage, fennel garlic a touch of chilli and citrus.

I'm a firm believer in failing to go forward! What has been your biggest f*ck-up (or learning curve, to put it politely) on your journey to cured meat excellence?

The biggest FU was the number of products we tried to produce. The first couple of lists had 60-plus items on them, so we were making small batches of everything. The natural outcome was products being sold and going out of stock, then some products not selling at all. We now have a core range of 10 salamis, five whole muscle products plus our three sobrasada, then we rotate some other items around this and have some seasonal variations.

Following the success of your collaboration with Dudda's Tunn, what other creative collabs can we expect next from North Charcuterie?

The Dudda's Tun collab has been fantastic. Rob over there is another foodie and we came up with three excellent recipes in a single conversation. The Kent salami (pork & Kent apple) uses their Original Cider and is now sold in our core range, as well as the snacking sticks available under their branding - it’s a winner for me with its roots firmly in Kent. We have already embarked on some other beverage-related collabs with several local small brewers, one of which is Old Dairy Brewery!

I f*cking love pork. It surely has to be the best meat there is, right? Tell me what you love about pork.

Using a well-known term, fat is flavour! The pleasure from eating a juicy, well-cooked piece of pork with good fat coverage, from an outstandingly well-reared animal, is pure heaven. It’s as simple as that!

Ingredients.

SERVES 2

40g North Charcuterie Sobrasada Picante Extra

1 white onion, finely diced

2 whole garlic cloves, bashed

½ tsp dried oregano

200g tinned cherry tomatoes

200g spaghetti

60g coarse stale breadcrumbs

Butter

Extra-virgin olive oil (to serve)

Salt

Method.

Fill a large pot with very salty water, then whack it on to boil.
Add a knob of butter to medium-hot frying pan. Introduce the diced onions and garlic. Sweat the onions until soft, translucent and slightly caramelised.
Your water should be boiling by now, so get the spaghetti in. Next, add the cherry tomatoes and oregano to the onions in the frying pan.
Now, breaking it off in chunks, add the sobrasada to the frying pan. Turn the heat down and let the sauce simmer as the sobrasada melts.
Once the spaghetti is cooked (al dente for me), reserve a cup of the pasta water. Add the spaghetti to the frying pan with a splash or two of the pasta water. Fold the sauce together until a silky emulsion coats every strand!

To make the pangrattato and serve:

In a medium-hot frying pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle in a layer of seasoned breadcrumbs and a bashed garlic clove. Keep your eye on the crumbs toasting, as soon as they reach a golden brown take them off the heat and discard the garlic.
Plate the spaghetti and top with a generous layer of the crunchy pangrattato. Drizzle with some extra-virgin olive oil, grab a fork and devour the lot.