I teach about 120 students a year. Some are the same kind of knucklehead I was when I started cooking. Others arrive with the kind of knowledge I had to work years to get. None of them deserve me. (Kidding.)
Few of them, if any, knew they were helping me work on this book. (Not kidding.)
They tested these recipes as they learned the craft of charcuterie. I am grateful to each one of them, especially for what they teach me.
I’m very lucky to work at Schoolcraft College outside Detroit, where I’ve been teaching since 1997, even while I was the chef-owner of half a dozen restaurants in my home state of Michigan. Shawn Loving was uncommonly supportive and inspirational in his own quest to be the best a chef can be. Jeff Gabriel insisted his bread be featured somewhere because what is fatty food without bread (pages 66 and 208). Joe Decker, who has been a lifelong friend (even though he’s a pastry chef), contributed the finest pâté en croûte dough to this book. I urge anyone who makes a pâté en croûte to use that Decker Dough (page 141); it should be a regular part of your repertoire. Sous chef Jake Draves, the badass cage fighter who kept me organized and in line. All of them are extraordinary chefs I’m lucky to work beside.
Finally, I want to thank Milos Cihelka, my mentor, who introduced me to forcemeats and pâtés in 1980, showing me the way a chef could take underutilized cuts of meat and trim and turn them into delicious food that looks beautiful and lasts longer (and makes money!). In this way, the forcemeat is really the heart and soul of any professional kitchen and truly great chef.
Last thanks to my wife, Julia, and to each of my five kids, Alana, Alex, Carmen, Dylan, and Ben.
—Brian Polcyn
I’d like to thank Chef Brian, who conceived and drove the book forward. I learned more in writing it than I thought possible. Brian and I would both like to thank the team at Norton: Melanie Tortoroli, Nathaniel Dennett, Anna Oler, Susan Sanfrey, Ingsu Liu, and the many people who helped make this book a reality: Karen Wise, Toni Tajima, Joe Vaughn, Elizabeth Parson, and so many others.
We’d also like to thank all those who take the time to read this book, to cook from it, to make a pâté. You are the ones keeping this craft a vibrant part of the American kitchen.
—Michael Ruhlman