Charcuterie_ The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing - Michael Ruhlman [23]
A plate or some other weight is placed on top of the curing salmon to help the cure extract moisture from the fish.
Once the salmon has cured, the fish is rinsed under cold running water to remove all the cure from the surface. Then the salmon is patted dry with paper towels.
The salmon should be refrigerated, uncovered, on a rack overnight to allow it to dry and develop a pellicle, a tacky surface the smoke will adhere to. The better the pellicle, the more effective smoking will be.
DUCK PROSCUITTO
Duck breast is one of the easiest dry-cured items to prepare at home. Duck breasts are widely available, and their size is perfectly manageable. Even a frozen store-bought breast of duck will provide results that will surprise you, especially if you’ve never cured your own meats, yielding a rich prosciutto-like flavor. You can add additional seasoning here—garlic, juniper, and bay are good—but salt and pepper are really all that’s needed for a great duck ham.
This is best sliced, skin side up, on a bias as thin as possible and served like prosciutto, with Parmigiano-Reggiano, arugula, and lemon juice, or with the ham’s traditional companion, melon, and a few drops of good balsamic vinegar. It also makes an excellent addition to a charcuterie plate or a canapé. Or arrange a border of slices around a plate, garnish with a mixed green salad with a basic vinaigrette, and you’ve got an extraordinary course to begin or end a meal.
The type and size of duck aren’t critical in this recipe, though if you want an extraordinary duck prosciutto, order magrets, moulard duck breasts, which come from the ducks used for foie gras. They’re especially thick and flavorful, in this or any other duck breast preparation.
About 2 cups/450 grams kosher salt, or as needed
1 whole boneless Pekin (Long Island) duck breast, about 1 pound/450 grams, skin on, split
1⁄2 teaspoon/1.5 grams freshly ground white pepper
Cheesecloth
1. Put 1 cup/225 grams of the salt in a nonreactive baking pan or dish that will just hold the duck breasts without touching and nestle the duck breasts skin side up on top the salt (the snugger the fit, the less salt you’ll need to use, but be sure that the pieces don’t touch each other). Pour enough additional salt over the duck breasts so that the pieces are completely covered. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
2. Remove the duck from the salt, rinse thoroughly, and pat completely dry with paper towels. The flesh should feel dense, and its color will have deepened. Dust the breasts on both sides with the white pepper.
3. Wrap each breast in a layer of cheesecloth and tie with string. Hang the duck breasts for about 7 days in a cool, humid place (about 50 to 60 degrees F./8 to 15 degrees C. is optimal). The flesh should be stiff but not hard throughout; the color will be a deep rich red. If the breasts still feel squishy (raw) in the center, hang for a day or two longer as needed.
4. Remove the cheesecloth, wrap the duck in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use. The duck will keep refrigerated for several weeks or more.
Yield: 1 cured whole duck breast
BEEF JERKY
Jerky is an ancient form of preservation used in America and throughout the world. Native Americans took advantage of the technique of drying red meat in strips, and cowboys always had a great need to preserve beef—some still do. A contemporary of ours, a former cowboy who worked the land from Texas to Canada, tending and protecting cattle over huge expanses of territory, often alone for long stretches, says he dried, or jerked, meat whenever he killed anything, such as a deer. When his food ran out, he’d butcher one of the cattle. As that would give him, even if he was traveling with several others, too much meat to keep fresh, he would cut the meat into thin strips, salt it if he had salt, and keep it in a shady cool spot during the day (it would spoil in the sun), then hang it each night. If he was on the move, Robert said, jerky was important because you can carry a lot of it easily, it weighs