Dianora Pasricha felt like she missed out on a career opportunity growing up. She wanted to get into culinary arts, read, cooking with panache and imagination.

And she loves experimenting. In the lockdown she experimented with burger patties, which her family loved. “(My family) are the best guinea pigs,” she told Explocity.

And then she decided to turn this into a business.

And Smoked — Charcuterie by Dianora came to be.

(Note: Although it is not our practice, in this article we refer to Dianora Pasricha by her first name, upon her specific request. -Ed.)

Dinanora said she yearns for things that are not easily available—such as smoked meats. But the nice thing about being a cook is that if something isn’t easily available, just make it yourself. And even better, make a business of it.

Smoking as a process is complex and time consuming. Complex because of the curing process and time consuming because the smoking is done at low temperatures for a long period of time. Dianora’s friend and customer helped her set up a kitchen on Nandidurga Road.

“I don’t have an airing room for air dried meats,” she said. But she has embarked on the complicated process of curing and smoking. The salts used in curing are a combination of table salt and sodium nitrite (which is also an antioxidant).

While curing, it preserves the meat, but it can be toxic if not used properly. After being cured for seven to 10 days, the outside becomes a little sticky. This whitish discharge is called a pellicle and the smoke catches on to this pellicle. 

There are different types of woods used for smoking like hickory, apple and cherry wood. Dianora sources many of these from abroad. “I like mango wood because it is economical,” she said. 

The cut of the meat is also important. Dianora uses beef undercut instead of a brisket. Brisket apparently takes much longer to cure and smoke. But she says it is being received by her customers very well. Probably because quality control is important to her. “I don’t use the offals and such in my sausages just to increase the weight,” Dianora told Explocity. 

Her products include, chilli bacon, pastrami, mutton patties, glazed ham, Polish kielbasa and Texas hotlinks. A full menu is available at the bottom of the article.

While Dianora is not smoking meat, you’ll find her feeding the streeties. She cooks and feeds over 35 dogs and cats.

Orders can be placed via WhatsApp: +91 98451 89505.