Olympia Provisions: Cured Meats and Tales from an American Charcuterie

Elias Cairo grew up in a Greek restaurant family in Salt Lake City, a seemingly unlikely locale for a Nose to Tail upbringing. But a backyard filled with geese, chickens, and lambs led him to a life that would revolve around traditional meat preparations.

Cairo spent a four-year apprenticeship at the famed Alpenrose hotel in a remote Swiss valley, where he cemented a foundation of old world techniques, recipes, and full utilization of the whole animal. On his return to the US, Olympia Provisions was born in Portland, Oregon. It has since become synonymous with the highest quality charcuterie, supplying restaurants throughout the country, as well as maintaining two restaurant operations of its own.

This passionate, highly personal book offers detailed descriptions on necessary equipment and plentiful recipes for slow-cooked meats, pâtés and forcemeats, fresh sausages, smoked meats, and dry cured and fermented sausages. There are also percentage charts for scaling recipes up or developing your own flavor variations. A collection of dishes from the company’s own two restaurants rounds out the book.  

Color photographs throughout. Hardcover.