Duck Prosciutto

Me: Hey dad, next time you go to the meat market pick me up a duck breast. I want to make prosciutto.
Dad: How about a chicken breast?
Me: How about i vomit?
Dad: I'll see what i can do.

Because really, can you think of anything grosser then Chicken Prosciutto? I mean granted Chickens and Ducks are both birds, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Don't get me wrong, i love my dad, and he keeps life super interesting and hilarious, but if he had a blog it would be called: How To Do Things Cheaply and Incorrect.

A perfect example of this is his bedroom door. Last fall he had really bad allergies and he and my mom both decided not to allow the cat into their bedroom (Actually he said, "How about we get rid of the cat?" and my mom said, "How about i get rid of you." and a compromise was achieved). Anyway they deep-cleaned the whole place, but the problem is their door doesn't stay closed. So, instead of buying a two dollar door stop, his solution is this:


It's a washcloth. Sometimes it's my gardening hat:

Classy.

Speaking of classy today is Duck Breast Prosciutto day, with actual duck breast. I ended up picking it up myself (for lack of trust issues) at the meat market, which is actually a market that sells delicious meat, not a really terrible night club. The recipe is from the Charcuterie Book, but one of the authors, Michael Ruhlman, also blogged about it here.

I was originally going to post about this through-out the process, but the great flood of 2011 put a damper on those plans. Anyway i started with 1lb of duck breast, which actually ended up being three small ones, because the meat market guy didn't understand what i was saying. That happens alot.

Anyway i covered them with salt, saran wrapped, and left them in the fridge for 24 (36?) hours.


Then you wash all the salt off and wrap them in cheese cloth.

then you tie it and hang it for a week in a dry warm place, which was originally the basement, but after the water/bug "issues" i went with the laundry room:


This is what it came out like:

As for taste, it's pretty Game-y. To be honest, it's kind of disappointing, and will not be used in any sandwich making, which is really what i was envisioning. Brie and duck breast prosciutto with arugula sounds delightful. Now i'm trying to figure out who to pawn this stuff on. Anyway, I think it's safe to say if you only sort of like duck don't make this.