My friend Dane is using fractal burning to make beautiful and unusual charcuterie boards. So much to learn from this! First, what is fractal burning? And what the heck is a charcuterie board, and better yet, how do you pronounce charcuterie?
Fractal burning combines art and science to create “Lichtenberg figures” – branching patterns burned into damp wood by running a strong current through it. They are named for Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, a German physicist who discovered and studied these patterns.
They are beautiful, but the process is dangerous (hello, water + electricity = danger), so don’t try this at home. Seriously, people have died. Dane assures me he is very careful and doesn’t touch the probes while the electricity is flowing. To learn more about fractal burning, visit FractalBurn.com . If you’d like to see more of Dane’s wood art, follow him on Instagram @voltzwoodworx.
Now, if you were to get one of these charcuterie boards, you’d have to know how to pronounce it. Here’s what Merriam Webster told me:
charcuterie: \ shär-ˌkü-tə-ˈrē \ or \shar- ku-ta- REE\ noun, from French chaircutier pork butcher, from chair cuite cooked meat;
- a delicatessen specializing in dressed meats and meat dishes
- the products sold in such a shop
And if you learned to say the name and got yourself one, what would you use it for? According to The Reluctant Entertainer, charcuterie means cured meats, and an epic charcuterie board features cured meats, cheeses, olives, nuts, crackers/ bread, dried fruit, and jelly or jam. You can use them to serve dinner to the family or appetizers to guests at a party.
If you like to learn new words, or the history behind words, join the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme at Kathy’s Bermuda Onion blog. Every Wednesday, bloggers share words they have learned. Visit and add to the discussion!
Have you ever seen fractal burning? How about charcuterie boards? Can you share any other unusual wood art ideas or food treats?
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Fractal burning is new to me but charcuterie is not. We love a good charcuterie board and usually make one up if we have guests. They’re fun to put together and even more fun to eat.
Thanks Kathy!
I’ve never heard of fractal burning – very cool! And I didn’t know what a charcuterie board was until I was in my 30s – sometimes we order it at a restaurant as an appetizer. We had an excellent one in Budapest too!
You are the second world traveler to comment on enjoying a charcuterie board abroad. Jealous!!
We had a charcuterie spread as one of our meals in Paris…hands down, my favorite!! If you are a “snacky” style eater, this is the way to go!
It’s totally you, isn’t it! 😉
Thanks for that! me – the one who usually looks things up in the dictionary – I was pronouncing it wrong on two counts: I was using a hard ‘ch’ and putting the emPHASis on the wrong sylLALble.