Home Cured Duck Prosciutto – Part 1

What’s hiding in there?  Encouraged by my initial bacon curing trip down the rabbit hole of cured meats I’ve decided more curing experiments need to take place.  Nay, MUST take place.  Next up, duck prosciutto.  It’s something you see on the menus at wine bars and gastropubs but how hard is it to make for the home cook?  Pretty simple looking by the instructions I found.

Navigating Charcuterie Road (certainly it’s a road paved with good sausage) is tricky.  There’s a lot out there which looks simple but requires a fair amount of prep and right now I’m looking for basic things to start with.  Since his other books I use are very reliable I ordered Ruhlman’s “Charcuterie” to serve as my guide book on this journey.  It came the other day and as I was going through it Saturday morning saw a “recipe” for duck prosciutto.  After scanning what was needed I realized this was the basic thing I was looking for.  All you need is a duck breast, some salt, and cheesecloth.  Doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Cover with salt, refrigerate for 24 hours, hang in cheesecloth for a week.  Cross fingers and wait.  We’ll see how it turns out in 7 days!  Stay tuned.

Duck Prosciutto (from Michael Ruhlman’s “Charcuterie”)

• 1 lb duck breast(s)
• 2 C kosher salt
• Cheesecloth
• White pepper

Pour half of the salt into a non-reactive pan or baking dish.  Nestle the duck breast on top.  Pour the rest of the salt over the duck breast making sure it is entirely covered.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 24 hours.

Next day.  Remove duck from salt, rinse thoroughly, and dry with paper towel.  Season with white pepper and wrap in layer of cheesecloth.  Tie off ends and hang for 7 days in a cool place.