CharcutePalozza

I am so excited to say I am participating in CharcutePalozza. It is a year long commitment based on Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Poleyn and we will be given a challenge each month introducing us to the amazing world of Charcuterie.

So here is my first challenge turning duck breast into prosciutto. I have my book and I bought a fresh organic, free range, pasture raised duck at the farmers market. I watched a online video on cutting up my duck.
Here are my duck breast are resting in salt overnight, then I will rinse season and wrap and hang to cure. I think it is going to be odd to see hanging meat in my home and not be in a deli.

So I am excited and fascinated that a art that was created before refrigeration was conceived and could be lost except to wonderful places in Europe for example Spain and their serano ham and Italy with salami, prosciutto and parma ham. When the world was being traveled and discovered by ship there were sailors at sea eating cured meats and cured fish it is truly inspiring to know how important salt plays in all of this. Salt is not just in a shaker on the dinner table it really has more important roles than in a shaker our bodies actually need salt.

So as the saying goes you get what you pay for, so for a quality end result I did start with a organically free ranged, pasture raised duck. I will post pictures during the curing process and end result.