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Guide

Charcuterie and curing

Curing is the part of butchery where the science matters most: salt, nitrites, time, temperature and the bacteria you are trying to keep out. This guide covers what the UK guidance says and what the courses teach.

British charcuterie has grown from a handful of producers to a recognised category with its own awards, and the courses have followed: a weekend in a cold room learning to make bacon, salami and coppa safely. Because the risks are real, the facts below lean on the Food Standards Agency and the industry bodies rather than on recipes.

The guidance and the craft

• The School of Artisan Food's Advanced Charcuterie & Meat Curing course (Steve Williams) is 3 days, 09:00 to 16:30, priced £985, covers breaking down half a side of pork and making salami, chorizo, air-dried hams, pancetta, guanciale, salt beef and pastrami, with curing theory, fermentation, drying and smoking.Source: School of Artisan Food, checked 19 October 2026.
• The School of Artisan Food recommends some prior butchery, meat processing or charcuterie experience for its advanced charcuterie course, but says none is strictly required.Source: School of Artisan Food, checked 19 October 2026.
• Vale House Kitchen's Introduction to Smoking and Curing is a 3-hour half-day course (10:00 to 13:00) covering dry curing, hot and cold smoking, smoked fish, bacon and chorizo/salami, priced £125 (6 Dec 2026) and £130 (9 Jan 2027).Source: Vale House Kitchen, checked 19 October 2026.
• River Cottage's Pig to Plate: Butchery & Charcuterie is a full day of pig butchery and traditional curing, 'working hands-on from carcass to charcuterie board', from £245, with dates listed including 23 Oct, 13 Nov, 28 Feb and 19 Mar.Source: River Cottage, checked 19 October 2026.
• Maynards Farm's pig butchery day includes making sausages the old-fashioned way, dry-curing bacon and gammon and a tour of the brick smoke house with a talk on cold smoking.Source: Maynards Farm, checked 19 October 2026.
• WonderDays sells a half-day charcuterie experience in Slough (10am to 2pm) at £105 per person where you pick Bacon, Duck or Chorizo/Salami, with curing techniques, cold smoking and a lunch using what you make.Source: WonderDays (voucher reseller), checked 19 October 2026.
• WonderDays' venison/hogget butchery and charcuterie half-day in Burnham (£150, 10am to 2pm) includes making sausages and charcuterie such as bresaola or salami; charcuterie is cured under controlled conditions and posted once matured.Source: WonderDays (voucher reseller), checked 19 October 2026.
• Food Standards Scotland lists 'cured deli meats' among the chilled ready-to-eat foods that cause most listeria infections, and advises keeping them at 5C or below and eating by the use-by date.Source: Food Standards Scotland, checked 19 October 2026.
• The British Charcuterie Live Awards were co-founded by Henrietta Green and Charlotte Sharp-Neale, launched in London on 21 February 2018, with the first competition held on 2 August 2018 at BBC Countryfile Live, Blenheim Palace, and nine product classes.Source: Northern Ireland Good Food (trade news), checked 19 October 2026.

Start with bacon

Every teacher of curing says the same thing: start with a wet or dry cured bacon, which is forgiving, before dry-cured whole muscles and fermented salami, which are not. The courses listed under charcuterie on this site follow that order.

Where an official source could not be read on the day we checked, the point is left out rather than guessed; we add it when the source is confirmed.

Sources

1. School of Artisan Food: https://schoolofartisanfood.org/courses/short-courses/butchery-charcuterie/advanced-charcuterie
2. Vale House Kitchen: https://valehousekitchen.co.uk/?p=5797
3. River Cottage: https://rivercottage.net/courses/meat/advanced-charcuterie
4. Maynards Farm: https://www.maynardsfarm.co.uk/courses/
5. WonderDays (voucher reseller): https://www.wonderdays.co.uk/vouchers/make-your-own-charcuterie-course
6. WonderDays (voucher reseller): https://www.wonderdays.co.uk/vouchers/venison-hogget-butchery-charcuterie-course-lunch
7. Food Standards Scotland: https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/consumer-advice/food-safety/causes-of-food-poisoning/listeria
8. Northern Ireland Good Food (trade news): https://www.nigoodfood.com/british-charcuterie-live-awards/

General information, not legal, financial or careers advice. Every fact above links to the page it was taken from, with the date we checked it.