Meat+Poultry - February 2017 - 38

EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

THE SALUMIST IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
MEAT+POULTRY: Your title is
"salumist." What does that mean?
Cairo: A person who makes high-end
charcuterie and sausages.
M+P: And what is your definition of
charcuterie?
Cairo: It's the branch of cooking devoted
to making prepared meat products,
like bacon, ham, salami, terrines, pates,
ballotines, galantines, and confit, mostly
from pork. It was originally intended as
a way of preserving meat before there
was refrigeration. Today, these meats are
prepared for their flavors that are derived
from the meat preservation process.
M+P: How did this all get started?
Cairo: At the age of 17, my father
sent me off to Europe, to the beautiful
Toggenburg Valley in Northeastern
Switzerland, to be an apprentice meat
processor, to learn to make meat
products in the old-style European
way. My father came to Utah, to Salt
Lake City, because someone told him
Utah was a lot like Greece. He did
everything at home; he did his own

meat processing at home; he made
charcuterie. He did everything by hand,
the old-fashioned way. That's the way
my family lived. So, I decided early on I
wanted to be a meat processor.
M+P: What were some of the highlights
of your apprenticeship in Europe?
Cairo: I worked in the kitchens of meat
masters in Canton St. Gallen. I worked
with Jaeger Stumpf, who was the
jaegermeister, the hunter-master of the
valley. He had a wild game processing
plant and a restaurant. He taught me
how to do processing and curing. I
had a full apprenticeship and spent
five years there. It was a wonderful
experience. And I learned again there
what I'd been taught at home by my dad
and family all along - handmade meat
is better than machine-made meat.
M+P: How did you end up back in
the US?
Cairo: As I soon found out, I could do
the same thing back home in Oregon
as I could do in Switzerland. I got a
call one day from my sister Michelle in

Portland and she said, "You can't stay
there forever - you need to get a job.
All those things in Switzerland - meats
and cheeses we have in Oregon too.
We have the Willamette Valley with
world class wines." So, I came back and
got a position as head chef of a highend restaurant here in Portland. Then
in 2009, I opened what was the first
USDA-approved salumeria, making one
product: fermented salami. My products
won four Good Food awards, based not
only on product quality, but also using
sustainably sourced materials.
M+P: How did that early success
influence your next steps?
Cairo: At the time, I didn't have a lot
of help in my plant. I had no help, I
was the sole employee. Then I opened
my first restaurant. I got my pork
from a small family cut-and-wrap
shop in Oregon's Willamette Valley.
But my main interest was still salami.
That came from my experiences in
Switzerland. I came back here and
looked at American salami - it was
nothing like over there. In Switzerland,

Olympia Provisions

38

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