Hello and welcome to Taste of Artisan, a website dedicated to helping people learn to make and enjoy delicious artisan foods at home.
My name is Victor Vitaly and I am the creator of this website. I have a strong passion for food made by hand using traditional methods from high quality ingredients. I have been making my own breads, sausages, cheeses, beer, ciders and other artisan foods for nearly two decades now. It may come as a surprise but making these foods at home is not that difficult. It certainly is a lot simpler than most people think.
Artisan foods are widely considered to have superior taste and quality. The problem is that they come at a high premium because of better quality ingredients that go into them, longer time to make and shorter shelf life. Making artisan foods at home is a great way to enjoy them at a fraction of retail cost. Additionally, you can get to enjoy artisan foods from all over the world without limiting yourself to what can be purchased locally or online.
About me
I was raised in Eastern Europe in a family where bread baking, sausage making and food preservation were a big part of our life. I learned to appreciate homemade food, to understand what it takes to make it. I learned that good food takes time to make. I learned that good food doesn't need to be expensive or complicated but it doesn't tolerate shortcuts.
I was fortunate enough to travel most of Europe and other places where I experienced local artisan foods, foods that I had never tried before. A lot of those foods aren't available where I now live, or tend to be quite expensive. This drove me to begin making my own, which started with smoked sausages and simple preserves and eventually grew to encompass beers, ciders, fermented sausages, cheeses and beverages.
Today I am on a journey to learn more about making artisan foods, learn new food making skills, hone the skills that I already have and share my experience and what I know with others.
Some additional facts about me
- In 2015 I started what today is known as Craving Tasty blog to write about my culinary adventures, to which I am still actively contributing.
- While I never received any formal culinary education, I used to work as a cook at several small and not so small restaurants.
Gerry
Good morning. I live in Cheektowaga, NY and was wondering if you run any classes in making the products seen on your site or if you have a brick and mortar building where I could purchase some of your items, as I have no idea what they should taste like. I've done some items, especially sausages, capicola , bacon, smoked meats, etc. My biggest problem is, I don't have a curing chamber and am concerned about temps, humidity, etc. in the curing process. Thanks in advance. .
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Gerry,
No, I don't do classes or sell my products, I do this as just a hobby. Not having a curing chamber is a big problem... but if you can afford a few hundred bucks to build your own curing chamber, it's worth it. You could do meat curing in your basement or a cold room in late fall/winter, the weather in NY will support it but it can be tricky.
vea
How does one subscribe to your site? There is nothing about this.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
There is a subscription widget at the end of each article. You can also find it on the main (right) sidebar if using a desktop.
Paul Mazor
Hey victor..
My full admiration to your self taught skills and knowledge it says a lot about the man.. here in Thailand where I live all these cold cuts salamis and other European delectacies are expensive to come by and the hot weather doesn't help in trying to make them at home..
Not sure where you are but I would have loved to come and watch you prepare all hose food item and would be happy to pay you too haha..
Victor if you can come up with the easiest home recipes to cure meats with the minimum of equipment and hassles I'm sure the guys will love to try them at home after all many of us aren't as talented as you are..
Cheers
Paul in Bankok..
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Oh my, Thailand is right about on the other side of the Earth from me, I am in Canada;) so coming over maybe a bit of a challenge;) However, I may have an interesting solution for you: Umai bags. Meats in Umai bags are cured in the fridge and a few people I know who also make traditionally cured meats have tried and liked the results. It's super simple it sounds and the results are good. I haven't tried it yet as I am more of traditionalist but I do have a few of those bags lying around... heck, I'll try one the next time I make salami in December.
Will
Good day to you Victor. You might of answered this in the above post. If I triple the recipe, how much yeast would I use? I believe everything else can be tripled. Thanks.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Will, you commented on my 'about' page so I have no idea which recipe you are referring to. In general though, If you triple a recipe that calls for a certain amount of yeast you should triple the amount of yeast to hit the same fermentation time.
Megan
I am so glad I came across your site while looking for kielbasa recipes. Where I live now, they don't have Polish food. I would love to start making my own but to be honest, I don't know where to begin. I've been researching smokers and not sure what would be a nice one to start with as a beginner smoker. Do you have any recommendations?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Megan,
Welcome to my blog and the exciting and tasty hobby of sausage making. By far the easiest smoker for making sausages would be an electric smoker. I've never owned one but my friend has one and he loves it. His is the Masterbuilt electric smoker. I've owned and used just about any other type - propane, kettle, kamado, offset smokers and a DIY smokehouse. They are harder to smoke Polish-style sausage in as you need to maintain a very low temperature, they are mostly designed for hot smoking. My friend's sausages are very good. They do have a little less of a smoky flavor compare to mine which I smoke in a smokehouse but they are still very good and operating the electric smoker is much easier especially for a novice. Hope this helps.
Rachel V
Dear Victor,
I appreciate your direct, encouraging and polite answers to posted questions. You seem to go beyond expectation in helping your readers acheive culinary success. Thank you for your consideration and dedication.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Thank you for the kind words, Rachel. I love my hobby and I hope I can help others learn and enjoy making and artisanal foods as much as I do.
Frank
Hi
I have seen your recipe and it looks pretty tasty.
I would like to do them but before hand May I ask if you can hung them til they dry out like the one we can get in an Italian shop that can be eaten row after they’re cured or they
have to be eaten after cooking?
Thank you in advance.
Frank
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Frank,
you've posted your comment on the about page so I have no idea which recipe you were referring to. Can you clarify?
Tom
Hello, Victor.
Your web site is a treasure. Your focus is intelligent, down to earth but never patronizing, detailed without being pretentiously overcomplicated. My wife and I both are avid fans of your bread recipes. Thanks so much for taking the time, and effort to share your wide-ranging artisan food enthusiasms and expertise.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome, Tom. Thank you for the kind words.
W. Frank Lewandowski
Hello Victor,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge of recipes, they look wonderful. I am first generation born in America and come from Polish parents that traveled here after WWII. When my uncle came here as a sausage maker he worked for a local sausage company all his life, as I got older I would make sausage with him at home and continue to love doing it with my cousin, his son. Anyway I love the looks of your smoker and would love more details of it, like pictures inside, dimensions and what you use as the smoke generator. Would you be so kind as to share that with me?
Sincerely,
Frank Lewandowski
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Frank, thank you for the kind words. Please, check out my DIY smokehouse post, I think you will get most of your questions answered there. Let me know if you have more questions after reading it.
Reva
Hi I’ve been making your bread and roll recipes Which are always fantastic do you have a bagel recipe?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Reva, I do. One of them is super simple, not a traditional recipe but the taste and the appearance are really good... I will post it in the near future.
Reva
Thanks look forward to it
Bill
I eagerly await your foray into Nduja.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Will post my favorite recipe in the near future.
Tony Zell
Greetings Victor,
My uncle sent me the link to your site to find polish sausage recipes. OMG, your recipes, photos, and tips are much appreciated! I have a batch of Krakowska going into my smoker after work today, but I'm jealous of your smoke house! Do you have plans, drawings, or other DIY about your smoker set up? I'm looking to build something similar, but maybe on a smaller scale. Any help or advice would be much appreciated! Thank you!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Tony, apologies for the delay with my response. I wrote a post about how I built my smokehouse, please take a look. I don't have exact plans there but there are a lot of pictures and explanations, those should help. If you have more questions, let me know, I'll be happy to help.
Anaïs
Hello Victor,
I am working as a project manager in a design agency based in NYC and Bordeaux, France and one of my clients loved your image about the canelés.
We are actually working on French recipes of this amazing desert. 🙂
Do you think it could be possible to buy your image to get the rights to use it on their printed magazine and website ?
Thank you very much,
Anaïs
+33 6 42 06 23 76
[email protected]
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Absolutely. I will send you an email.
George Lathrop
The post about the coolbot got me to thinking about using an A/C unit to cool my old furnace room. It is 45sq. ft. with a 7' ceiling height. so in reading about the coolbot I found out what sort of hacks I need to make to get an AC below 60*F. My would be cool room has 3 concrete walls and maintains 70% humidity and 63*F in mid July. So I suspect that in the winter it would work as is. however with added insulation and a modified AC unit it should be good to 55*. Has any one else on this list done this?