Where in the UK to eat the best cold meats.

Earlier this month, Mr Sean Cannon, of British charcuterie wholesaler Cannon & Cannon, opened Nape, a cured meat bar and bottle shop on Camberwell Church Street in London. It represents an important landmark in the British charcuterie industry. Seven years ago, when he began working with British farmers and producers, few people had heard of British charcuterie. Fewer still took it seriously.

Today, only 0.1 per cent of the charcuterie consumed in Britain is made here – 10 million tonnes are imported every year. But quality producers, such as Cobble Lane Cured, Cornish Charcuterie and Black Hand, are beginning to challenge the best from the continent, and provide a more sustainable future for British farming year-round. As the pound weakens against the euro, there has never been a better time to buy British charcuterie. And if European imports start to rise exponentially, we may be approaching the end days of affordable jamón ibérico de bellota or prosciutto di San Daniele. It also helps that when it’s good, British meat is world class.

To better understand how charcuterie is made, where to get it and what to drink with it, we spoke to Mr Cannon and Mr Steve Lamb, author of the River Cottage Curing & Smoking handbook, for their expert, insider knowledge.

Broadly, charcuterie is classed as a whole cured muscle or pieces of cured meat, which are spiced, seasoned and refashioned as a composite sausage, such as chorizo or salami. Although pork – as hams, loins, necks, sausages – is the most common meat cured by charcutiers, British artisans are diversifying with beef, mutton and venison. Before it is cured, the welfare and quality of the meat is “very important”, says Mr Lamb. “Curing meat is not about making an inferior product palatable. It is about using great products and putting a layer of quality on them so they become elevated.”

Mr Cannon agrees, emphasising the quality of what he has available to him. “In Britain, we have the best meat in the world,” he says. “We have wonderful conditions for livestock farming. The meat speaks for itself.”

“It really comes down to one ingredient – salt,” says Mr Lamb, outlining the basic principles of making charcuterie. “This is the curing agent that draws out moisture in the meat and ultimately preserves it. Residual moisture in meat attracts bad bacteria and makes it deteriorate.” Once cured, the meat is aged in a dark, humid, chilled (about 10°C) environment.

“Humidity between 60 and 80 per cent is an important part of the process,” says Mr Lamb. “The salt stops any bad bacteria forming and the correct humidity means the natural microflora present in the air will bloom on the surface of the cured meats. The ‘bloom’ – mostly penicillium mould – stops the light getting to the meat and gives off some flavour.”

The big obstacle, for what is a nascent industry in Britain, is with artisans and suppliers who have limited production capacity and are relatively inexperienced. “In Spain and France, they have mile-long warehouses and they’ve been doing it for a hundred years,” says Mr Cannon. “Our biggest challenge is getting what we need.” In the same way that Neal’s Yard works with British dairies, Cannon & Cannon provides infrastructural support and product consultation, which means its producers have quickly improved what they offer and how reliably they’re able to offer it.

“A cured meat board should, in my view, have no more than four meats and no one of those meats should contain chilli or any other similarly aggressive aromatic,” says Mr Cannon. “I like to use nape (pork neck, aka coppa) to demonstrate the play of fat and lean, a lean muscle of cured and lightly smoked vension or beef, then two sausages – one made with brawn (pig head meat), lightly herbed and crumbly, and a dense well-dried saucisson such as our cobnut and red wine one made by Moons Green in Kent. My advice would be to keep it simple. Serve good oil and bread on the side if you must.”

“There are certain cuts that dictate traditional products, such as pork leg for prosciutto or pork belly for pancetta, but I like to experiment,” says Mr Lamb. “My favourite is guanciale, cured wild boar cheek. I make a version called Face Bacon.”

Mr Cannon: “Try fatty pork cuts such as lardo, loin or cheek with hoppy pale ales such as Partizan from Bermondsey, or get into a brawn salami with a light, upfront fruity red such as the Baby Bandito Follow Your Dream by South African natural wine hero Craig Hawkins.”

Mr Lamb: “Wine and beer, of course, but I love a cold Fino sherry with most cured meats.”

And another winning combination? Try a can of Fourpure Pils (also brewed in Bermondsey), with a plate of Cornish Lop nape, a Monmouthshire pork snacking sausage made from blood, wine and cocoa and a ramekin of Vadasz pickles (made in Hackney) with some pickled cucumber and wafer-thin carrot and mooli, and a fruity kick from a scotch bonnet chilli.

Beyond Nape, here is a selection of the best places around the UK to try British charcuterie:

Salon Brixton, 18 Market Row, Brixton, London SW9

Temple and Sons, 22 Old Broad Street, London EC2

Oldroyd, 344 Upper Street, London N1

Jar Kitchen, 176 Drury Lane, London WC2

Luca, 88 St John Street, London EC1

The Clove Club, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1

The Sportsman, Faversham Road, Whitstable, Kent

River Cottage Canteens, Trinity Square, Axminster, Devon; Whiteladies Road, Bristol; Royal William Yard, Plymouth; Abbey Mill Gardens, Winchester, Hampshire

Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside, Cumbria

Coombeshead Farm, Launceston, Cornwall