Home Cured Duck Prosciutto Recipes

Steps:

• Weigh breasts individually so you can check their progress toward curing. With a sharp knife, score skin of each breast in a crisscross pattern. Put about 1 cup salt (a half-inch layer) in a nonreactive baking dish that will just hold the breasts without touching. Nestle breasts on top of salt, skin side up. Pour more salt over breasts so that they are completely covered. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 24 hours.
• Remove duck from salt, rinse thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. The flesh should feel dense and its color will have deepened. Dust breasts with pepper on both sides.
• Wrap each breast in cheesecloth and tie with string. Hang for about 7 days in a cool (50 to 60 degrees is optimal), humid place, like a garage, a basement or in an unlit fireplace. After curing, the flesh should be stiff but not hard throughout; the color will be a deep rich red. If they still feel raw in the center, hang for a day or two longer. Generally, dry-cured products are ready when they have lost 30 percent of their original weight.
• Remove cheesecloth, wrap duck in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep several weeks or more.

Steps:

• Using a small knife, trim all but a 1/8" layer of fat from each duck breast; reserve fat for rendering. Mix remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.
• Arrange 2 sheets of plastic wrap side by side on a work surface. Spread 1 scant cup salt mixture (do not pack) in center of each sheet, spreading mixture to match the size of the duck breasts. Top each with 1 duck breast, fat side down. Spread remaining salt mixture over meat, dividing equally. Bring plastic wrap up and over each duck breast, wrapping tightly. Place on a small rimmed baking sheet, fat side down, and refrigerate for 7 days to cure.
• Unwrap duck breasts. Scrape off salt mixture (do not rinse). Using a long, sharp knife, thinly slice meat.

Steps:

• Gently wash duck breast of excess blood and then dry with a towel, try to get rid of as much surface water as possible and set aside.
• In a bowl prepare the curing mix by mixing the salt and the brown sugar evenly. Alternatively you can mix all contents into a jar seal it and shake until evenly mixed.
• In an air-tight plastic container pour about 1inch thick of of the curing mix, and gently lay the duck breast (skin side up) ontop of it. ,Make sure the breast doesn't touch the sides of the container.
• Pour the remaining mix ontop of the breast, completely covering it and filling the container (make more if there is not enough to fill the container).
• Place the sealed container in the fridge and leave for 1 to 2 days.
• The salt is now curing the meat and drawing the moisture out of the duck breast. Thus preserving the meat and enabling it for human consumtion without cooking, just like italian proscuitto. The sugar imparts a slight sweet flavour onto the meet to offset the saltiness.
• After 1 to 2 days remove the container from the fridge and remove the duck breast from the cure mix.
• Quickly wash off the excess mix with water, but don't keep it under the water for too long.
• Pat the cured breast dry and wrap tightly with a clean muslin, cheese, or thick cloth. Suspend the duck from a string in a dry, warm area for 5 to 7 days to thoroughly dry the duck out.
• Alternatively at this stage the breast can be thinnly sliced and pan fried as a duck version of pork bacon.
• After 5 to 7 days the duck is ready to be thinnly sliced like normal proscuitto and used in salads, pastas, or served as part of a meat & cheese platter. Enjoy and watch your friends' reactions when you tell them you cured the proscuitto yourself!
• To store, keep duck refridgerated and wrapped in clingfilm.
• Flavour Variations: To impart other suttle flavours into the meat feel free to add dried herbs and spices to the curing mix before curing. Dried orange peel, dried cranberries, and pink peppercorns work nicely with duck breast. The overall curing mix should always work on a 3 parts salt to 1 part everything else.