The Spotted Trotter: Charcuterie

This past weekend I had the pleasure of a trip to The Spotted Trotter, a charcuterie in Atlanta. There are two locations (Kirkwood and Krog Street Market) - I went to the Kirkwood location, a small shop in the historic neighborhood of Kirkwood. While it is local to Atlanta they do ship and if you are not near enough to come physically I encourage you to make use of this option - you will not be disappointed! 

Charcuterie is the branch of cooking that specializes in prepared meat products, especially (though not necessarily only) pork. Fortunately there is more to this than mixing meat together, stuffing it in a casing, and "preserving" it with lots of salt and even more chemicals. 

I appreciate the philosophy of the owner of the Spotted Trotter - procuring (pun intended!) locally and humanely raised meats and continuing to treat it with respect as it is prepared for our enjoyment. The more I learn about CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) and mass-produced big-ag meat the less I want to eat it and the more willing I am to pay a premium for meat raised in a physiologic manner - respecting how it was designed, and killing it in a humane way, respecting the principle of stewardship (which is far different from "sustainability"). I was told the meat is all pasture raised, and I saw a display for White Oak Pastures - a place for which I have deep appreciation and great respect. 

One of the purchases I made there was some ricotta cheese. This is far different from the glop you get at a grocery store that is mass produced from big-ag dairy! I had never had real ricotta - now I have. The texture was firm but slightly crumbly, and it was ever so slightly sweet with a definite (but not overpowering) hint of lemon. Absolutely amazing!! Yum! 

I also picked up some "Burger Blend" and a recipe for meatballs that I used to make meatloaf. It turned out quite well - I'll post the recipe in a follow up post. 

I am a hippie at heart and one of my fondest fantasies is to have a wee farmette. I don't know that I will ever be able to live that dream, but I feed it through farm tours - and their "friends" page lists plenty of places to be explored!