Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese [76]
Make it or buy it? Make it.
Hassle: Easier than bacon; one of the simpler curing projects
Cost comparison: Homemade: $4.00 per pound. Primo Taglio: $29.00 per pound.
CURE
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons pink salt (see Appendix)
¼ cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons juniper berries
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon blade mace or freshly grated nutmeg
5 pounds fresh pork belly, skin removed, cut into 3 pieces
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper, for sprinkling the cured meat
1. Place all the ingredients for the cure in a spice grinder and process for 1 minute until combined.
2. Rub the cure all over the pork belly, trying to work it into every cranny.
3. Place the pork belly in a snug container, cover tightly, and refrigerate for 7 days, checking occasionally to make sure it’s covered in cure. If not, redistribute the cure.
4. After 7 days check to make sure the belly feels firm at its thickest point; if it does, you are ready for the next step. If not, leave it in for a couple of days more.
5. Remove the belly from the container and rinse well under cold water. Pat dry. Sprinkle the meat all over with the cracked pepper.
6. Wrap in cheesecloth, tie like a package, and hang it in a cool place for 1 week. I hang it from a pipe in the crawl space.
7. Unwrap the meat and cut it into 4-ounce chunks. Freeze what you won’t be using in the next couple of weeks.
Makes 4 pounds
PROSCIUTTO
Over the course of nearly 400 days, prosciutto undergoes a maturation process that comes to fullness in the remarkable bloom of aroma when the ham is later opened. That moment each year is like a birth, a long season’s waiting for the revelation of what can only be imagined by looking from the outside. Prosciutto is an act of patience and a stunning transformation, raw flesh to rose-colored, mildly salted delicacy that nearly melts on the tongue. Your own prosciutto is likely to taste like none that you have ever tasted before.
—Paul Bertolli, Cooking by Hand
DUCK PROSCIUTTO
I started with duck prosciutto. It sounded easier than pig prosciutto and you can’t buy it at the grocery store. I found two straightforward recipes, one from the chef Gary Danko and one from Charcuterie, then married the two.
2 cups kosher salt
One 8-ounce duck breast
2 teaspoons ground fennel
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1. Put the salt in a bowl and roll the duck in it. You want the duck completely jacketed in salt. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
2. Remove the duck from the salt, rinse, and pat dry. Coat with the remaining ingredients.
3. Wrap the duck in cheesecloth and tie up with a string, like a present. Hang the duck breast for 2 weeks in a cool place, like from a sturdy pipe in a crawl space, or from a hook in a closet.
4. Unwrap the breast, which will now be firm and wizened. Vigorously brush off any mold with a clean toothbrush, place the breast in a plastic bag, and put it in the freezer.
5. When the prosciutto is frozen solid, with a very sharp knife slice off as much meat as you want to serve, cutting it very thin and letting it come to room temperature before eating. Store the remaining prosciutto in the freezer and slice as needed.
Makes 1 duck prosciutto
The duck prosciutto was port-colored and capped with a thick layer of creamy fat and a thinner layer of very chewy skin. Each slice was too small and stiff to drape over a piece of melon, but on its own terms it was delicious or I thought so, anyway. I gave a tidbit to my husband and he grimaced, saying, “What is this?”
I understood his distaste. It was delicious—but