DUCK PROSCIUTTO

Now this was fun! A friend had told me that you could hand your cured meat in a wine fridge (Mason if your reading this thank you!). Mason had told me that he was making duck prosciutto and I thought to myself damn i want to try that. So I did a little research and found a blog that gives you a little bit of a guide on what to do. This blog is awesome, link at the bottom of the page. I found the duck to be a little bit too strong for my liking but for me but this is just the stepping stone for my charcuterie skills definitely more to come.

INGREDIENTS

– 1 Duck Breast (I cut mine from a maryland)

– 1 Packet of Cooking Salt

– Rind From One Orange (Optional)

– 3 Star Anise (Optional)

– Muslin Cloth

– Butchers Twine

METHOD

First if like me you could only find marylands, remove the breast from the bones and cut off the tenderloin. Next cut the breast in half (you don’t have to but because I wasn’t sure if this would work it allowed for a faster drying time). Pour about 3cm/1inch of a small but deep tray with salt. Lay the breast pieces in the salt and add the optional rind and star anise if you wish. Pour the remaining on top to cover the duck breasts. Cover with a tight lid of cling wrap and place in the fridge for 24 hours.

Remove from the fridge, wash the breasts of all the salt and pat completely dry. Wrap in the muslin cloth and tie with the butchers twine (click to see how to tie). Next you want to weigh your pieces of meat because to tell if it is ready it will have lost 30% of its original mass. Now to hang in my Vintec wine fridge I snapped a bamboo skewer in half and used that to thread through the loop in the end of the tied up meat hanging from the shelf.

When it reaches that magical number it is ready to unravel. It is totally fine if you have white mold growing on the prosciutto however if it is black or green it is no longer any good. Slice thinly and enjoy!