#Charcutepalooza January Duck Prosciutto
Posted by ntsc at 1/14/2011 12:08 PM 
Categories: meat, dry cure, Yummy Mummy, charcuterie
Tags: Charcutepalooza
Categories: meat, dry cure, Yummy Mummy, charcuterie
Tags: Charcutepalooza
12/21/2010
That title, #Charcutepalooza, is a Twitter hashcode. I didn't do Twitter, I do now. I'm really there to follow #Charcutepalooza11, but I'm ntsc358 if I ever say anything, feel free to follow. (Yes the name means something to people who know).
The Food Goddess of the Internet, The Yummy Mummy has declared 2011 to be the year of Charcuterie and I will be following her. You can read more about it here.
I also intend to be a little more active myself in posting. It isn't that I haven't been doing things with food and preservation, but I haven't been posting about them. This was to be the spring of the sausage in any case, now there will just be more of them.
Duck Proscuitto should arrive about January 15, I will be ordering two of these. Unless I find them on Monday at Fairway, unsalted.
The box arrived, as ordered, on Friday December 31, 2010
It was opened and contained a pair of Magret Duck Breasts.
The first, massing 490 440 grams, skin side up on a bed of salt.
The second, massing a slightly heavier 496 grams.
Two, close but not touching.
Covered in salt.
And into the refrigerator. Those two black bins to the left each contain a ham being cured, the lower one prosciutto 2011 , the upper Blackstrap Molasses Country Ham.
There will be pictures along the way of all three, so check the other two for changes as well.
And yes the hashcode did change.
1/3/2011
And that is the pair after 24 hours in salt. Both have lost almost 5% of their mass, the lighter is down 20 grams out of 440, the larger down 23 out of 496.
Showing the back of the lighter of the two.
Wrapped in cheesecloth and tied for hanging.
And the basement already is equipped with hooks.
And hanging, 55 F about 70%
And that is a shot of the ancillary cookbook shelves, including my books on baking, charcuterie and preserving. Most of my books are in the basement, perhaps 5000 volumes. We made the decision before we moved in that we did not want floor to ceiling shelves through out the house.
1/14/11
Found out today from the source of my duck breasts D'Artagnan that their breasts should only lose 20% weight because they have already been air dried. That was where I was, so the next stage in this project is here. By the way, as of today 1/14/11 they are out of duck breast. Because of #charcutepalooza?
Invasion of the pod people? Those have been hanging for about 11 days and are down to 80% original mass.
Two views of the smaller breast.
Cut in two.
Close up.
Got to have a taste, and look at that fat.
And that, except for the two duck breasts is the home cured charcuterie I pulled out of the refrigerator. Prosciutto, maple smoked bacon and Canadian bacon.
More later when we do something with the half breast in the fridge, probably Sunday AM, DLT sandwiches although Emeril's sandwich does come to mind.
This is exactly what I need to get me off my ass. Count me in.
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I'm in. Have 2 duck breasts in the freezer!
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Jon I know you have already been welcomed by the Yummy Mummy, Kathy you need to tell her. I'm just a participant, although I'm glad to see her making sausage and charcuterie.
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The internet is a better place with you in it. Just sayin'
Kim
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Well the duck is on order from http://www.dartagnan.com/
In addition to the twitter hash code above, there is now a FaceBook page: charcutepalooza
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My wife and I will be visiting the Fairway in New Jersey on Thursday, see what they have.
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Do you use Kosher salt only or Pink Salt? It is difficult to find Pink Salt in Canada but I did find online a salt that is called Prague Powder #1 with an addition of sodium bicarbonate and glycerine (MFG aid)....is that good to use?
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In the duck prosciutto I used only Kosher salt.
There are two salts which are used in curing which are colored pink to differentiate them from regular salt.
The first is called pink salt, Prague Powder #1 InstaCure #1, DQ Curing Salt, tinted cure mix or TCM. It is 6.25% sodium nitite and salt.
The second is not called pink salt, even though it is tinted pink. It is called InstaCure #2 or DQ Curing Salt #2 and is sodium nitrate and salt.
Both are dangerous if ingested in large quantities, i.e. don't substitute it for salt. In the amounts used for curing they are safe.
Note I am essentially quoting from Charcuterie pp 106 in my edition.
The
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Yes, I know of these two salts and the one called for in Charcuterie is unavailable here.
You said u used Kosher Salt. Just kosher salt? none with nitrates? because I can do that. but not being familiar with anything like this I want to be sure
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Yes, only kosher salt is used to cure the duck breast.
Turns out that "Pink" salt doesn't need to be pink in Canada. It is a US requirement. I did a quick search and found a Canadian supplier of Prague Powders 1 and 2.
www.stuffers.com has them. I had to search for "Prague" to find it there. $12 plus shipping will get you plenty of cure.
http://www.wwf5.com/stuffers.com/wecs.php?store=stuffers&action=searchadvanced&noform=1&advancedsearch_words=prague
Canada Compound (www.canadacompound.com)also has it on their spice list.
At least if you are ordering it from inside Canada, shipping should be less and there won't be a customs issue.
Happy Curing!
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Hi Join in Albany; thank you so much for your help...stuffers.com I know about but I sent the link to M.R.(ruhlman) with the link and he said only to use cure with the nitrate at 6.25% and salt. That one has added sodium bicarbonate and glycerine.
I don't know anything about cures so I am assuming these added ingredients are not so good (the bicarbonate is probably used for clumping someone said)
I am in touch with the other place because I cannot find it and there is no search engine that I can find...will keep you posted on my progress.
However, to be completely honest I don't want to spend 12 bucks US to ship a product which is going to cost me at the most for a lifetime supply under 5 bucks...not that US makes a difference anymore
I have to say: most everyone I have come in contact with on this journey of mine have, for the most part, been genuinely kind...for the most part.
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Hi again, just got an answer from Canada Compounds and they sait, too that the following is what they call Prague Powder #1:
Salt, Sodium Nitrite, Glycerine (mfg aid), Sodium Bicarbonate (mfg aid).
ANALYTICAL SPECIFICATIONS (typical analysis):
Total Chlorides (as Sodium Chloride): 92.5%
Moisture: <0.1 %
Sodium Nitrite: 6.4%
They, too, have the other 2 ingredients and their nitrate is 6.4% as opposed to 6.25%.
Perhaps this is the same percentage: is this okay to use? Am I spending too much time on this business of the 'curing agent' as opposed to actually just curing the product with anything resembling nitrate and salt?
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I have a bag of DQ Curing salt #1 form Butcher and Packer in front of me. It is 6.25% nitrate and also has glycol with red#3 for the color and sodium bicarbonate "used to buffer mix". Not sure what that means.
From the Butcher & Packer website: "All pink tinted cures have the same sodium nitrite concentration, which is 6.25%. Prague Powder # 1, Insta-Cure, Modern Cure are all the same."
Since this is one of Ruhlman's recommended suppliers, I would assume their product is OK. I'm not sure what going from 6.25% to 6.4% would do. I definitely don't have enough experience to answer that.
But I did see another Canadian supplier. No prices on the site, but the formulation is the same. They call it Sure Cure. You could give them a call. They are in Ontario.
http://www.malabarsuperspice.com/s_cures.htm
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thanks you are fantastic. If that is the case then I believe I will be ordering from Canada compound. They will also ship any amount I want and cost it accordingly.
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There is no significant difference between 6.25 and 6.4. Having a non-laboratory scale with accuracy of 0.15% is un-likely.
You are starting to talk moisture content weight differences here.
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That makes sense. Since the home scale is going to have some error to its measurement, the difference should be negligible. Hadn't thought of it that way.
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Today I am doing the breast. What a putz I am: I misread Mrs. Wheelbarrow and needed only Kosher salt for this project not the Salt Cure which is for February.
However I hold in hands my Salt Cure.
I cannot believe how stupid of me to have been able to do this and be eating today; however in the research of salt cure (which would have had to be done anyway for the next challenge) I learned so much about Canadian Food and Agriculture laws that I never would have known or paid any attention to.
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