Duck Prosciutto

[Widoemaker]

Hi all I was looking in every source I have to get a SAFE recipe for Duck Proscuitto. All say to use only salt and spices but my gut still throws up a red flag and tells me to use a Nitrate to be absolutely safe..but will this change the flavor to a "ham" type and not a salt only cure..I've decided to go with a Moulard duck breast...size and flavorable fat as main reasons...thanks in advance!!

[yotmon]

Hi Widoemaker, just looked up a recipe for Umbrian duck in Rosemary Shrager's Castle cook book and for 2 x Barbary duck breasts she uses 40g salt, 10 Juniper berries, 10 black pepper corns, 10 Allspice berries - all crushed. 1 Bay leaf and the rind of an Orange. No cure is used or inferred. It seems the way to go so let us know how you get on.

Yotmon.

[Widoemaker]

Hi Widoemaker, just looked up a recipe for Umbrian duck in Rosemary Shrager's Castle cook book and for 2 x Barbary duck breasts she uses 40g salt, 10 Juniper berries, 10 black pepper corns, 10 Allspice berries - all crushed. 1 Bay leaf and the rind of an Orange. No cure is used or inferred. It seems the way to go so let us know how you get on.

Yotmon.

THANK YOU! That recipe mirrors most I've looked up....I 'll try it soon and post results!!

[Papanaq]

I use moulard duck breast when I make this. I don't use cure and have let them hang for as long as 3 months and liked the results.
I make a mixture of salt 200g, thyme (small bunch, rough chopped, and a very small amount of brown sugar 30g,and a splash of red wine or port. I press on as much of the mix as a breast will hold and place them all in sealed vac bag for 24 hrs. Take them out and rinse well.
I then take white peppercorns, rosemary and bay leaves grind them in a coffee grinder until fine. After I sprinkle that mix on the flesh side only, wrap them in cheesecloth, and let them hang.
If I do a long hang time on them I will unwrap them, put them back in a vac bag with just a couple of tsp. of wine, seal it, and refrigerate for 48 hours. This helps to rehydrate the dry surface a bit.
I really like the results I have been getting. The salt flavor is very balanced and you know you are eating duck. I usually do 20# batches at a time. If you are using fresh breasts and think you might want to hang them for a long time, I will press the flesh side to get all of the blood out of the artery.

[MeatWrangler]

Thanks for the info Papanaq. I tried making duck prosciutto last year and it was a dismal failure, I might give it another go using your method

[damienhogan]

Hi all I was looking in every source I have to get a SAFE recipe for Duck Proscuitto. All say to use only salt and spices but my gut still throws up a red flag and tells me to use a Nitrate to be absolutely safe..but will this change the flavor to a "ham" type and not a salt only cure..I've decided to go with a Moulard duck breast...size and flavorable fat as main reasons...thanks in advance!!

Hey I put up a easy recipe for Duck Prosciutto here http://damienhogan.co.uk/duck-prosciutto/ let me know how you get on if you give it ago.