Duck Prosciutto

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Muscovy Duck Prosciutto de Provence

Yup, that's what I am making!! I've been criticized in the past for posting pictures of what we eat but that's not gonna stop me!! Most people don't know what their food looks like or where it comes from. So with my blogs I am hoping to share a little bit of insight and hopefully know how. I am not on a crusade or anything but I think we should respect the process. Oh by the way these Muscovy Duck Breasts were free range and organically raised.

Anyhow I am making Duck Prosciutto out of Muscovy Duck Breast.
My understanding is this......A Muscovy duck breast has about 18% fat, the Pekin duck breast has about 29% and the Moulard is a cross between the Muscovy and the Pekin. Heck I am just experimenting and I am enjoying the process.  In one of my past Blogs I wrote about Duck Prosciutto and how wonderful it was. I am trying something new!!! I love duck. Duck makes great charcuterie and is a wonderful pork alternative. 

Note 1: The weight of meat plus fat is 100%. All ingredients to be added are expressed as a percentage of the weight of meat plus fat. Percentages can be used to standardize recipes regardless of batch size.  All weights are metric. 

Note 2: No weights are given because the weights of meats vary. Everything is a percentage of the meats weight after trimming. Example- Meat weight 2393 grams and we want to find out the amount of salt we need in grams- 2393 X 3.5%=83.755 or 2392/100 X 3.5 =83.755 grams. 
I wanted to try something different this time so I soaked the duck over night in Spiced Rum to kick it up a notch. The next day I applied the cure and spices.
One of the thing that makes this recipe different from all others is the addition of Spiced Rum. I also added Grains of Paradise instead of white pepper or black pepper. The grain comes from the ginger family and has a peppery taste. I also used Herbs de Provence which is a mixture of herbs that should work well with duck.


 Putting it all together is quite simple. Like I said earlier, combine the Rum with your duck and soak over night. Next measure out all of your ingredients for the next step.

Combine Pink Salt (aka Cure #2), Salt and dextrose and coat both sides of meat thoroughly. 
                                                        



Next combine the rest of the ingredients and coat both sides of meat like before.

I Vacuumed sealed the breast and plan on flipping them every day for a week. At the end of the week it will be cured. 

I used equilibrium curing instead of excess salt curing. Excess salt curing is a technique where you cover the meat entirely in salt. 

Equilibrium curing is using exact amounts needed for the cure. 
"This method would be the Sous-Vide cooking of the curing world". Jason Molinari


After the curing process I will rinse off the meat and place in a UMAI Dry Bag to dry. The duck will need to lose about 30% of its raw weight (172.2 g) before it will be done which is 401.8 g. 

The Breast have lost exactly 30% of its weight. Here they are in the UMAI bags.
 Dark mahogany glaze a beautiful sight. 
 Beautiful and easy to slice

Evaluation: It came out great. Color and taste was beyond my expectations. Texture could have been better which is related I believe to the Muscovy Duck Breast. I will replicate this recipe again but will use the Moulard Duck Breast instead. The flavor was very delicate and sweet. This recipe captured everything I was looking for. The spice rum was a good choice. I will try other types of alcohol in the future like Apricot Brandy and Apple Brandy.


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