Interesting discussion....
Let me first say that the location of the Charcuterie section has nothing to do with it's popularity. It is merely a function of when it was added. And - we try to make a habit of leaving the arrangement of the homepage alone as much as possible - so that folks get to know where things are located.
The sound advice of how to find new posts quickly has been given, so I will not go into that - except to add that there may be other shortcuts you can use to scroll faster down the page. ( See your computer manufacturer's information for that.)
Secondly - the choice of the name was the suggestion made by forum members. It was not a term familiar to me initially. SO - let's look at it's meaning and usage:
Definition: Charcuterie is the art of making sausages and other cured, smoked and preserved meats. In addition to sausages, classic charcuterie items include pâtés, terrines, galantines, ballotines, confit and crèpinettes.
Charcuterie is one of the principal categories of garde manger, which encompasses various classical techniques for preserving foods that date from an era before refrigeration.
Originally, the word charcuterie was used to refer only to products made from pork. But today, the word charcuterie is used to describe any product prepared using these traditional methods, even ones made from poultry, fish, seafood or other meats.
One of the characteristics of charcuterie recipes is its use of forcemeat. But familiar smoked or cured meats such as ham and bacon are technically within the purview of charcuterie. Additionally - "a charcuterie" is a shop which specializes in the products included in the category by the name
charcuterie. We live in a world much bigger than just one country folks. And - while most of us here are native English speakers - that is not reason enough to exclude us from using words to describe
bratwurst or
bresaola or even
gefilte fishSo- 3 things on that front:
1.We have a wider reach tan just "Americana".
2. We have international appeal - and members outside of the USA/Canada.
3.Charcuterie as a term - is known, and used all over the world. It does in fact have a broader recognition than any other term that I could find.
Sausage making is but ONE portion of charcuterie. It is one that I happen to love, and enjoy, and make a good amount of sausage myself - but it is ONE portion. We want to promote and focus LTBBQ as a place that includes all aspects of things cooked outdoors, or not in traditional kitchen ways. ( Tho - we welcome ALL cooking including "kitchen based" recipes and cooks too
)
One could use the same reasoning for jerky. Maybe it should have it's own thread section. Right?
But - if we were to completely parse the number food items into very specified categories...can you imagine just how L-O-N-G the index page would be? What we have try to do is to strike a balance that would make sense - based on "commonalities". That is why all of the appetizers are together, and all of the desserts are as well.
CANNON-MAN has a forum section focusing on sausage making equipment, and I look forward to contributions made by us all to his forum specifically about sausage, and the making of it - so....maybe that fills a void that some feel we have?
Lastly - we ARE user driven. And, if there is a large enough number of our members that want to change the name of the section - it will be done. But - we cannot provide separate sections for bacon, jerky, sausage, hams, ...ad infinitum because it become impractical to manage - the Index page length is already an issue. Please discuss it, and make any suggestions.
