Duck Prosciutto

Again, apologies for the crappy picture.

This is my first experiment with Charcuterie at home. I'm so pleased! I was really concerned with how the dry air of Utah would affect the outcome, and as you can see the bottom side did dry out a little more than I think it was supposed to. Also, I was really nervous to eat this. I know I know - a week of a full salt cure took care of any risk of botulism, but I still thought that I might put it in my mouth, seize up, and collapse on the floor, much like you see in the old Looney Tunes cartoons... even with "x" for eyes.

Nevertheless, we are still here. We only have half of the breast left! My husband couldn't get enough of it! It really is incredibly flavorful, and has a delicate saltiness to it. I actually chiffonade-d a bunch of it and threw it into a baked mac and cheese dish. I thought it would go well with the three cheeses I used - a local sheep's milk blue cheese from Snowy Mountain Sheep Creamery, Promontory Cheddar from Beehive Cheese Co., and a french Gruyere. Yum! We pretty much ate a lot of it the moment we brought it in. I think I will definitely pick up more duck breast from Nels on Saturday at the locavore market.

So this Year of Meat. Charcutepalooza. What am I doing this for? Well, I've always been a science nerd. My favorite part of science was always lab. I see cooking as a giant, and tasty, extension of lab. Except there is no chance of explosion... generally speaking. I'm looking to expand my cooking chops in new ways that push my comfort levels a little. I also know I could just buy most of this in the store, but it's really expensive to do that, and you don't always know what its provenance is. Part of this is in an effort to learn conservation. I have discovered that when you are really invested in every step of the process of cooking, you are far less likely to create food waste. I also like the idea of being as self-sustaining as possible, and being able to turn the most basic of ingredients into a finished item. You don't *need* to go buy ricotta... you can make it with milk, cream and vinegar. You don't *need* to buy bread or bagels or pasta... you can make it with flour, eggs, water, a little salt and sometimes yeast (of course other things if you are making more than the basics). I get a great sense of accomplishment to say that I made this, and the taste difference shows. Lastly, a lot of this is just because I really like to eat these things. Not gonna lie. I like meat. (But only good meat!)

Anyway, enough rambling. My Wild Boar Belly has cured for the last week, and was just set to hang in the closet. I didn't roll it - it was just too small - so I just wrapped it in cheesecloth, and it will hang for 5-7 days. Yum!