The cheese wasn’t from Fatted Calf, but all the charcuterie was. I expected a few different types of salami, but no, this was full-on, no-holds-barred, locally-made charcuterie. Some were definitely outside my comfort (or familiarity) zone.

Both Taylor and Taponia, the hip husband and wife team behind Fatted Calf, were in attendance, sharing the details behind how they made each one. And as a pleasant surprise, they brought some of their wares to sell afterwards. I picked up a few petits secs for Stephanie who missed class due to a cold.

All told, we had nine types of artisanal charcuterie:

1. Mortadella
2. Liverwurst
3. Duck Rillette
4. Umbrian Salami*
5. Ciccioli
6. Petit Sec with Herbs*
7. Chorizo
8. Soppressata
9. Pepperoni

And then there was the cheese. Many of the other classes tend to focus on a specific type or region, but these were picked specifically to pair with the charcuterie above, and also because they were some of Wil Edwards’ favorites. So they represent a wide variety of very good cheeses.

1. Bellwether Farms Ricotta
2. Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Bijou
3. Cobb Hill Ascutney Mountain*
4. Fleur du Maquis
5. Abrigo*
6. Pecorino Foglie di Noce*
7. Monte Enebro
8. Jasper Hill Farm Winnimere
9. Basajo Passito

I marked my favorites with an asterisk per usual, but really they were all very good. The Bijou is like the crottin that Stephanie dreams of making, the Monte Enebro had this unusually creamy, multi-layered rind, and the Basajo Passito was the sweetest blue cheese I’ve ever tasted—I would go so far as to say I liked it, and I don’t really like blue cheese.