Duck Prosciutto Crudo
I wanted to set up some sort of contest to see if you could guess what in the world that picture is.
But the title to the post sort of gives it away. It's a shot of duck breasts, wrapped in cheesecloth, hanging in a wine cellar in our basement. In other words, it's duck prosciutto crudo in the making.
Prosciutto? Yep, usually ham. But Bruce has morphed it into a duckish version, using skin-on, boneless duck breasts. It's tasty, salty, full of mineraly notes. Wow.
One note: crudo means raw in Italian. Techically, the porky prosciutto we eat is called prosciutto crudo. Yep, it's raw. You've been eating raw pork--and may not have realized it. And prosciutto crudo is different from prosciutto cotto, which is cooked ham.
Thus, duck prosciutto crudo is raw food. That is, cured duck breasts. You must follow these instructions exactly and exactingly. It's charcuterie. Which means you can die if you're off your game. So take proper precautions and have at it! Because I swear, you'll be dumbfounded. Your friends and family, too.
Start out with two or four 8-ounce (225-gram) skin-on boneless duck breasts. Trim off any fat and skin that hangs over the sides of the breasts. Put a fairly thick layer of kosher salt in the bottom of a large baking dish. Set the breasts skin side up in the dish.
Cover them with salt. No, bury them. You'll need up to a couple of pounds (or a kilo) of kosher salt. And use ONLY kosher salt with its exacting mineral content, perfect for curing foods.
As you can see, Bruce's duck breasts didn't fit in one baking dish, so he used two. But buried in kosher salt is the key. Cover the dishes and refrigerate for 24 hours--precisely. You can go up to 36 hours, although the meat will get firmer and a tad tougher.
Remove the breasts from the salt. Rinse them. Pat dry. Give each a good dusting of freshly ground black pepper. Not too much or the pepper will override the more elemental flavors of the duck. But a generous sprinkling.
Set one breast on a piece of cheesecloth and wrap it shut, like a holiday present, tieing it with butchers' twine. Seal the corners but leave good air flow through the cheesecloth without pulling it too tight. And a single layer, not two, although a little overlap in places is inevitable. Repeat with the other breasts.
Tie a butchers' twine loop around each of the packages so they can dangle like ornaments, then hang them one by one in a constant 50F (10C) to 58F (14C) environment. Place a small bowl under them to catch any drips.
We've found the best place to do this is in one of our temperature-controlled wine cellars. We can put it on the white wine setting and keep it at a fairly constant temperature. However, the duck breasts also need good air circulation so they can dry out. Thus, Bruce opens the wine cellar door once a day and sets a fan in front of it for about 4 to 6 hours each day. No telling what that does for the wine, but it makes darn fine prosciutto crudo.
Let the duck breasts hang and dry for 5 days.
If you don't have a constant temperature environment like a wine cellar or a cool cellar in your home, you can hang them from a rack in your refrigerator. They'll take much longer to dry: 2 weeks because of the colder temperature--and the texture will be slightly compromised, more mushy. Not bad, more like B-, instead of A+. However, you don't need to open the refrigerator and run a fan!
Cut the breasts down from their perch and unwrap them. They should smell bright and clean, meaty but not in the least spoiled. They're ready to be sliced into paper-thin strips and served--or wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the fridge for about 10 days, ready when you are--for breakfast with eggs and toast; lunch on buttered, crusty rolls; or even dinner in a pasta sauce that would usually call for porky prosciutto crudo.
Bruce served them on their own for a course at a dinner party recently, with a small salad of watermelon cubes, minced mint, and balsamic vinegar. Here's a picture by our friend Rich Rosenfeld. It sure does them justice. Not a speck was left on anyone's plate.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Monday, July 25, 2011 at 10:41AM | in Charcuterie, Comfort Food, Hunks of Meat, Starters appetizers, charcuterie, duck, duck prosciutto, prosciutto, prosciutto crudo
Reader Comments (5)
That looks insanely good! I think I might be too scared to try it, but it looks SO yummy and it's really cool to be able to make something at home that you can't really buy (or at least i can't where i am!)
Sara: You've just got to get your ducks in a row--as it were--before you start the recipe. It is insanely good. Seriously.
M.
Kosher salt isn't available in Australia, can you suggest an alternative? Thanks guys...
Celia:
I've been told that "rock salt" is "kosher salt" in Australia. Maybe? What do you use for brining and curing? For bacon, for example. That would probably work. Bruce says "sea salt," although I'm not sure of the exact mineral content.
M.
That looks incredible. My dad use to always make biltong from deer and beef at home. It was my favorite snack. I definitely want to try this now. It looks just so good.