Making Duck Prosciutto

I considered putting this on the F&D board instead, but I think it applies more to the OB since it involves wild duck. Anyway I got a charcuterie book for Christmas and one of the recipes in it is duck prosciutto so I gave it a try.



Early in the duck season I had a couple of gray ducks that were in great shape and had a thick layer of fat, so I (luckily) saved the breasts with the skin on. The recipe in the book is incredibly simple: you basically salt the meat for 24 hours and then hang them in cheesecloth at 50-60 degrees for 4-6 days. The salt draws a LOT of moisture out of the meat, so when i went to hang them they looked almost cooked.





I had my doubts when they were hanging b/c the tenders (the thin strips of meat) from the back of the breast dried out completely after about 2 days and when I tried them they basically tasted like crappy beef jerky.

Anyway this is one of the breasts after hanging from Sunday to last Saturday.



Frankly I was shocked at how good they were since I thought I'd screwed it up entirely after eating the tenders. They taste a little like a mixture of meat and cheese actually. The fat adds a whole lot to the taste so I don't know how good it would be with bare breast meat (which I have a lot more of). Anyway I just thought I would pass it on to you guys since people are looking for new recipes on here all the time.