Jamie Bissonnette's duck prosciutto
Nov. 4th, 2018 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonelvisI've mentioned this over on Twitter, but I made duck prosciutto from scratch because I had a recipe for it and a craving, and holy shit, it is good stuff. Thus I am reproducing the recipe here for anyone else who wants to try it, because literally the only hard part of doing this is waiting for it to be ready.
This recipe is from Boston chef Jamie Bissonnette's book The New Charcuterie Cookbook. I've been to a couple of restaurants in which Bissonnette is a partner (Toro and Little Donkey), and he's known as a man who understands how to cure meats. So I bought this cookbook a while ago just because curing meat is a culinary frontier I've barely begun to cross, and I am always into new food experiments.
Anyway. Duck prosciutto. I made half this recipe, because there are only two of us, and we did not need a pound (~ half a kilo) of this in the house. But maybe you do, so here's the full recipe, and I trust you're capable of doing the relevant math if you need to.
6 cups (1.4kg) salt (I used Diamond Kosher Crystal)
3 cups (720g) sugar
3 tbsp (45 g) coriander seed
1 cinnamon stick, crushed (honestly, since I needed half a stick, I just shook a crapload of good Penzey's cinnamon into the cure)
2 tbsp (30g) fennel seed
3 tbsp (45g) mustard seed
3 tbsp (45g) whole black peppercorns
2 fresh bay leaves, crumbled (the recipe is poorly edited and doesn't mention crumbling them, but you should)
3 sprigs thyme (like I said, poor editing; the recipe never calls for this ingredient, so I just used a bunch of dried thyme)
2 8oz (227g) duck breasts
2 bunches cheesecloth, 18" (45cm) long
3ft (0.9m) butcher's twine
Mix salt, sugar, and all dry spices. (HAVE I MENTIONED THE POOR EDITING. JUST MIX IT ALL.) Dry off duck breasts. In a mixing bowl (I used a plastic bag), cover duck breasts with salt mixture and massage gently.
Fill the bottom of a large nonreactive (glass or plastic) pan with 1 1/2" (3.7cm) salt mixture. Put the duck breasts in the pan, skin side down, and cover with remaining salt mixture. Wrap with plastic wrap (clingfilm) and refrigerate for 36 hours.
Remove the duck breasts from the pan and brush off salt with a damp cloth. Discard salt mixture.
Wrap the breasts in cheesecloth and tie tightly with twine. (Don't know how to tie meat? This video is a good quick primer, although I leave a long tail to weave on the bottom of the meat and tie against the original tail. But you do you.) Age 10 to 15 days in the refrigerator or in a curing room (because we all have curing rooms, AMIRITE). Slice thin to serve. Duck breasts can keep in the refrigerator for up to six months. Wrap them tightly, and change the wrap as needed.
This recipe is from Boston chef Jamie Bissonnette's book The New Charcuterie Cookbook. I've been to a couple of restaurants in which Bissonnette is a partner (Toro and Little Donkey), and he's known as a man who understands how to cure meats. So I bought this cookbook a while ago just because curing meat is a culinary frontier I've barely begun to cross, and I am always into new food experiments.
Anyway. Duck prosciutto. I made half this recipe, because there are only two of us, and we did not need a pound (~ half a kilo) of this in the house. But maybe you do, so here's the full recipe, and I trust you're capable of doing the relevant math if you need to.
6 cups (1.4kg) salt (I used Diamond Kosher Crystal)
3 cups (720g) sugar
3 tbsp (45 g) coriander seed
1 cinnamon stick, crushed (honestly, since I needed half a stick, I just shook a crapload of good Penzey's cinnamon into the cure)
2 tbsp (30g) fennel seed
3 tbsp (45g) mustard seed
3 tbsp (45g) whole black peppercorns
2 fresh bay leaves, crumbled (the recipe is poorly edited and doesn't mention crumbling them, but you should)
3 sprigs thyme (like I said, poor editing; the recipe never calls for this ingredient, so I just used a bunch of dried thyme)
2 8oz (227g) duck breasts
2 bunches cheesecloth, 18" (45cm) long
3ft (0.9m) butcher's twine
Mix salt, sugar, and all dry spices. (HAVE I MENTIONED THE POOR EDITING. JUST MIX IT ALL.) Dry off duck breasts. In a mixing bowl (I used a plastic bag), cover duck breasts with salt mixture and massage gently.
Fill the bottom of a large nonreactive (glass or plastic) pan with 1 1/2" (3.7cm) salt mixture. Put the duck breasts in the pan, skin side down, and cover with remaining salt mixture. Wrap with plastic wrap (clingfilm) and refrigerate for 36 hours.
Remove the duck breasts from the pan and brush off salt with a damp cloth. Discard salt mixture.
Wrap the breasts in cheesecloth and tie tightly with twine. (Don't know how to tie meat? This video is a good quick primer, although I leave a long tail to weave on the bottom of the meat and tie against the original tail. But you do you.) Age 10 to 15 days in the refrigerator or in a curing room (because we all have curing rooms, AMIRITE). Slice thin to serve. Duck breasts can keep in the refrigerator for up to six months. Wrap them tightly, and change the wrap as needed.