The First Cure

After months of saying I was going to do it, I finally took the leap into homemade charcuterie.  I started off with what everyone says is the easiest: duck prosciutto.

There's a gazillion recipes on the net that so I won't go into detail but here are a few pics of the process.

So how'd it turn out?

I followed the instructions to a tee and let the duck breasts decline in weight by 30% over the course of two weeks but they seem a bit dry. It could have been the size of the breasts (a bit small) or that the temperature wasn't constant nor within the specified range of 45-65F -- my fridge for curing only goes up to 41. Also the humidity level was significantly lower than recommended. Details details! In any event, despite all that, the flavor is quite good.

I've since brought an external temperature controller for the fridge so no worries about it being too cold any more. Now I have to work on a solution for humidity.

Next up. Bacon.