Searching for the ultimate guide to meats for a pork free charcuterie board ideas that stand out? The possibilities are seemingly endless. Combining unique items and ingredients can create a unique and impressive charcuterie board that you can make at home. I have put together a guide to help you create the ideal charcuterie board, for those who don’t eat pork.
Don’t be scared; if you’ve made a cheese and meat sandwich or put out a plate of cheese and crackers, you can easily make the perfect charcuterie board.
Ultimate Guide to Meats for a Pork Free Charcuterie Board
Charcuterie boards, also known as meat and cheese platter, offer a delectable, adventurous way to enjoy appetizers. With different cheeses, fruits, jams, nuts, and cured meat products, one can create an individualized combination of flavors and textures. I particularly enjoy the add-on of cured meats, which offer unique and tantalizing tastes. A charcuterie board typically consists primarily of pork products such as Jamón Ibérico, Lardo and Rillettes.
Charcuterie boards are an amazing appetizer experience! They offer a unique, choose-your-own-adventure dining opportunity that’s creative and fun. On top of that, they typically feature a delightful combination of cheese, fresh fruits, jams, dried nuts, and meat. The different types of meats are definitely my favorite part – they come in a lot of flavors and textures.
Genoa salami, which originated in the Genoa region of Italy, is a popular choice for charcuterie boards. This type of salami is crafted from ground pork or veal, white wine, garlic, salt, and whole white peppercorns, which are then placed in a casing and hung to cure for 10 weeks.
Alternatively, salami can be made from a variety of meats and game, including beef, lamb, duck, venison, horse, and donkey, or a combination of any of the above. Salami is a cured sausage created through fermentation and/or air-drying.
For those who’d like to avoid pork, charcuterie boards offer a great alternative. Turkey, chicken, or beef sausages may be cooked and sliced thinly on a diagonal for a delicious addition. If a vegetarian or vegan is present, Big Franks or vegan sausages are a good option.
When it comes to the best cured meats for a non-pork charcuterie board, you can’t go wrong with bresaola, cured wild game (venison and elk), turkey bacon, duck bacon, duck prosciutto, duck salamis, and beef salamis.
Creating a charcuterie board is an art form in itself, with cured and smoked meats as a key component. Choosing the right meats to complement the other items, such as cheeses, bread, crackers, dried fruit, nuts, and other accompaniments all contribute to a visually appealing and delicious grazing experience.
Making sure that the meats you select suit your tastebuds, pair with the other board components and any accompanying drinks, is crucial to a successful charcuterie board. With the wide variety of smoked and cured meats available from the deli, butcher shop, or upscale grocery store, the choice can be overwhelming. Therefore, it pays to do some research and pick the right meats for your charcuterie board, for the ultimate grazing experience.
What Can Be Included On A Charcuterie Board?
A charcuterie board is best made with a selection of different meats, cheeses, crackers, and condiments. Try to create a variety of styles, from hard salamis to softer cheeses, and include items that are both savory and sweet. Also, be sure to include any decorations or jams that you think will enhance the presentation.
Ultimately, it’s important to remember that the board should contain items that you and your guests will enjoy, so don’t feel obligated to include something if you know it won’t be well-received.
Suggestions For Meats and Cheeses
For a customized charcuterie board, you may want to consider purchasing a variety of meats and cheeses around Christmas and New Year’s. Soft cheeses such as brie, goat cheese, camembert, Neufchâtel, mozzarella, burrata, and stilton can be included. Semi-soft cheeses like gouda, jarlsberg, blue cheese, and gorgonzola can also be added.
Semi-hard cheeses like manchego, grève, provolone, and comte are great and excellent choices as well. Hard cheeses like asiago, aged cheddar, Västerbotten, parmesan, and aged gouda are also recommended. When selecting your cheeses, you may want to consider one plain cheese and one with a little bit extra flavor like fruit, herbs, or heat. Your local grocery store should have plenty of options for you to choose from.
Non-Pork Options
For those looking for a non-pork option for their charcuterie board, consider turkey, chicken, or beef sausages, cooked and sliced thinly on a diagonal. Big Franks and Vegan sausages can also be a good choice for vegetarians. Deli counters often have shaved turkey or chicken slices that can add an extra layer of flavor. Turkey bacon can be cooked and chopped into fine slices, but beef bacon may be too tough for a charcuterie board.
There are many other cured meats that don’t contain pork such as bresaola, cured wild game (venison, elk), duck bacon, duck prosciutto, duck salami, and beef salami that can offer different flavors while still avoiding pork.
Other Non-Pork Options
Pâté
Creating a charcuterie board can be a great way to impress your foodie friends, and pâté is a unique, fancy and great addition to the mix. It is made from organ meat, such as chicken liver, herbs, and binding ingredients like milk, eggs, or bread. To prepare this spreadable, smooth product, it requires more effort than just slicing and arranging like with some other meats. So, pâté stands out with its richer taste and texture compared to the other options.
Preparing pâté for your charcuterie board can be a labor-intensive process, but it can be worth the effort. Cleaning the liver is the most difficult part, but then the ingredients – such as chicken livers, garlic, onion, herbs, butter, red fine wine, and vinegar – need to be cooked, blended or processed, and chilled. However, if you don’t have the time or inclination, you can purchase pre-made pâté for a convenient charcuterie board addition.
Rillettes share many similarities with pâté, although they tend to have a slightly more coarse texture. Moreover, while pâté is usually made from organ meat, rillettes are usually made with pork, making them an alternative for those who do not find organ meats palatable.
Traditionally, rillettes are created by slowly simmering a pork shoulder or leg for an extended period until the meat is tender enough to be easily shredded by hand. This shredded meat is then blended with its own fat and cooking liquids, forming a paste-like consistency.
‘Nduja is a spreadable salami originating from Southern Italy. Made from pork and Calabrian chili peppers, it is a type of pâté.
Bresaola
Bresaola, an Italian cured meat, is not a common item on charcuterie meat and cheese boards due to its limited availability and higher price. This is because importation of the product was prohibited in United States until 2014 when it was deemed safe after concerns around bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease).
Now that bresaola has been legalized, it is a healthier option due to its lower fat content and beneficial minerals it contains. Nonetheless, its price tag still makes it a less attractive choice for many. True Italian notes that bresaola is an ideal option for those looking for a healthier, low-fat alternative to other cured meats, as it is packed full of essential minerals.
Bresaola is a cured meat created by air-drying lean, salted red meat for several months. The drying process turns the beef into a deep red color with a hint of violet. It has a sweet aroma and its unique flavor is similar to a leaner version of prosciutto.
Bresaola is often served with bread, olive oil, and salt, sometimes with cheese, but can also be eaten alone. Spices like rosemary, juniper, black pepper, cinnamon, or cloves are often used to rub the exterior of the meat. This cured meat pairs well with Parmigiano Reggiano, olives, and nuts. Homemade versions can be made with any lean red meat such as venison.
Cured Wild Game- Venison, Elk
Finding cured wild game can be challenging in a regular store, but butchers and specialty meat markets are more likely to carry it. If you’ve been hunting, you can use what you’ve harvested as well.
Adding cured venison to your charcuterie board can add an interesting flavor to the mix. Generally, venison is cured with salt, pepper, and juniper berries, but other spices and seasonings can be used as desired. Venison is usually odorless, but be aware that if it’s left to cure for a long time, it can become overly dry and tough. To avoid this, be sure to get thin slices or wafer thin cuts.
Duck Prosciutto
Salt-cured duck meat is used to make duck prosciutto, similar to the way pork prosciutto is made. This fully-flavored meat is slightly reminiscent of pork, even though no pork is used in the preparation of this delicacy. Slice the cured duck breast thin, like prosciutto, and enjoy with crackers or in a sandwich.
Duck Bacon
An alternative to the traditional pork-based bacon, duck bacon offers an array of health benefits and a unique texture that many people have yet to discover. For those who have yet to try it, duck bacon is an excellent alternative to pork-based bacon. Though turkey bacon is commonly seen as a commercial substitute, duck bacon may require a bit more of a search. Yet, the effort is worth it!
Duck bacon is much leaner than its pork counterpart and offers a dense texture similar to that of “real” bacon. You can typically find it in the same flavors as conventional bacon, such as Applewood smoked. Those who have tasted duck bacon often report that it is superior to turkey bacon, making it the ideal substitute for pork-based bacon.
Duck Salami
A type of salami made from duck meat can be found, characterized by its sweet flavor and speckled duck fat. The deep red appearance of duck salami can easily be mistaken for pork salami, but one will notice the speckled duck fat as a difference.
This form of salami is usually deep red in color, with the curing process lasting at least two months, during which time it is seasoned with a combination of spices like red wine and peppercorn. The curing process is what gives duck salami its unique sweet taste, with the duck fat shining through.
Beef Salami
Beef salami is another great variety of salami, made from the lean meat of a cow instead of pork. Beef salami is an alternative to the more traditional pork-based variety. This type of salami has the same flavor as its pork-based counterpart but with the added benefit of being lean.
The same process of curing applies to beef salami, as it does with pork, so it can be kept and enjoyed for prolonged periods. Beef salami is just as widely available as pork in many stores all around the world.
Different kinds of salami have their own distinct names (e.g., Sopressata or pepperoni) and should not be confused with salumi. Salumi is a more extensive term that covers Italian cured meats in general, including salami, as well as other Italian meats such as prosciutto and pancetta which are produced in other ways.
Wrap Up
If you’re heading to a party or planning a party, why not take along an assortment of cheese and cold cuts that you didn’t use in one big container? Refill the platter halfway through the event if needed. Additionally, you can enhance your board with jams, chutneys, pickles, nuts, dried fruits, and olives for extra flavor and presentation. If you have any preserves from the fall, now is the perfect time to put them to use.
