Duck Proscuitto and Confit


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

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On my last run to NYC, I picked up a 12 pound berkshire belly, a fresh long island duck, and a 1/2 lb of duck fat.

The plan was to split the duck and follow a couple of recipes out of Charcuterie.

The breasts were boned and packed in salt for 24 hrs
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I rinsed and soaked them for a few minutes before step 2: wrapping in cheese cloth
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I hung them in my basement mini kitchen which is 55* 50% RH. I forgot the dusting of white pepper, but I figured since I was inoculating them with bactoferm mold 600, I probably wont miss it.
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I didn't realize the mold 600 requires 12 hrs to incubate, so I didn't inoculate until this morning. I poured a bit into a shallow dish and rolled the breasts in it until the cheese cloth was soaked (one advantage of the cloth).

The legs were cured with the basic recipe (with clove) for 24 hours.
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I rinsed and soak the legs before potting them.
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I rendered a few T of fat from the carcass, and used a 1/2 lb of fat and I was still a tad shy of submergence.
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the legs are in a low oven for 8 hours, the fat is currently at 175*.
 
Oh man off to a good start Jeff!

Be sure to keep us updated always looking forward to your posts!
 
I'll be watching too! Especially interested in how that prosciutto comes out. Question - do you also require a certain temp in addition to RH level? I can keep my basement area even lower as far as RH but wondering what the limits in ambient temp would need to be.
 
Ray, the actual directions state to hang in a cool humid place, 50-60 degrees being optimal. nothing is specified regarding RH. I've seen a few people do the drying in a fridge with good results, so I figured my dry basement was a bit more humid than that.
 
Thanks, so something I would want to do in the winter probably, if I didn't use a fridge. Could use the dorm fridge I use for beer and cold fermenting pizza doughs though....
 
The confit went 8 hours at 177*. I was figuring that it would be falling apart, and it was still pretty firm. I suspect it will be good, and since it was my first try, I'm not expecting perfection.
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the spoils:
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two legs, fat and confit jelly

In a day or two, I'll weigh the breast to see where they are at. No sign of mold 600 yet. I'm betting I'll have to take the breasts down before it gets started.
 
Pretty cool. Funny I was just poking around at duck confit while looking at cassoulet recipes this week and now this.

I can get the ducks but was looking for a source for fresh ones. Also for duck fat. Also been wanting to try something other than Pekin ducks. Found a place an hour our so away. They have nice Pekin and the fat. Other wise would have to mail order everything. I'll have to check at the local markets, haven't seen duck fat there but can get fresh Pekin.

Getting hungry for some duck lately. Was wanting to make the duck confit ahead of time like you're doing.

The prosciutto was something I hadn't thought off. Really interested in that. Can't wait to see the sample slices!

Now you got me checking out the Charcuterie recipe
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Great stuff J. Anxious to hear your thoughts on the duck prosciutto when it's ready. I just did some (minus the bactoferm) recently. The db I used were pretty thin and only took about ten days to dry to a 30% weight loss in drying conditions similar to which your describing.
Have you used the bactoferm before? I found that with the pork saucisson, it had a pretty strong impact (flavor wise) on the cheesecloth wrapped TL even after cleaning them off. The TL that were cased with inoculated were better.
 
One week in:

No sign of mold 600, plenty of questions here: do I just need to be patient? did I not prepare the stuff right? should I have inoculated differently? will it not grow at 50% RH?

The breast are at about 85% of their original mass and still feel pretty soft. I think the recommendation is 30% loss, so I'm going to check again in a few days.
 
With the Bresaola: After I mixed and applied (see 6th pic down) , I hung it for 36 hours at 80% -85%humidity-75 degreesF. After that tried to keep the humidity around 70%-55-60 degreesF. The saucission only "incubated" for about 18 hours under the same conditions. Both times I had pretty much complete mold coverage at the end of a week.
What kind of water did you mix with?
 
Distilled water for the BactoFerm is important. So is sufficiently high temps at the outset to promote growth. If you hung at 55? from the get-go that could be the problem.

On the confit: I do mine sous vide, something you might like to consider. It only requires a couple tablespoons fat per package, leaving you the rest for other uses.
 
What kind of water did you mix with?
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I didn't have distilled so I used bottle water.

If you hung at 55? from the get-go that could be the problem.
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I did not incubate the inoculated meat because I read something about mold 600 is bred to grow in low temps and low humidity. I guess I needed to give it a chance before I hung it.

On the confit: I do mine sous vide, something you might like to consider. It only requires a couple tablespoons fat per package, leaving you the rest for other uses.
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I considered that, but opted for the traditional approach for my first try. After doing a similar sous vide with pork belly as a proof of concept, I think I'll do it sous vide next time.
 
I did not incubate the inoculated meat because I read something about mold 600 is bred to grow in low temps and low humidity. I guess I needed to give it a chance before I hung it.
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Not familiar with 600. Is it supposed to be like their MEK4 (or MKE4 - or whatever they call it)?
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:
On the confit: I do mine sous vide, something you might like to consider. It only requires a couple tablespoons fat per package, leaving you the rest for other uses.
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Wow, thanks for that tip. I've been planning to do some confit and the amount of duck fat needed had me searching about for local source that could supply that so I wouldn't have to mail order. With this I could definitely plan on having enough fat by just buying a whole duck.
 
Yup. Huge advantage in that regard. Though I prefer to cook duck breast skin on, I will gladly sacrifice the skin from the breast and its fat. That, coupled with the fat trimmings from around the cavities and any removed when the carcass is separated out, I keep in the freezer. When I've done this to four ducks, I render the skin and fat; the leg quarters I cure for confit (I go longer than the recipe in Charcuterie and use significantly more quantities of flavor agents, and an addition or two). I package 4 leg quarters per pack - so 2 packages - add a couple or 3 tablespoons of fat, then cook sous vide around 180 for 10-11 hours. Works great.
 
cook sous vide around 180 for 10-11 hours. Works great.
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Thanks. that was my next question.

<180* for 8 hours was good but I think more time would have been better.

I made a cassoulet minus the meat and we assembled our dishes based on our tastes. Here's my plate with the duck confit, a bit of homemade champagne sausage and the cassoulet. Nothing like enjoying a weeks worth of cooking in one bite:
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It was great paired with roasted parsnips, toast with garlic confit, and a salad with walnut and apple.
 
I bet it was.

I've never made cassoulet without the meats, but I am a huge fan of it. it has been too long since I last made it.

Fortunately, I recently discovered I could buy duck in Shawnee. Can't get much else I'd like there - or even in OKC but duck I can get. (Duck has been unavailable in Okeechobee for some time. Apparently I was the only buyer!) So, confit soon. Cassoulet I hope before the winter is over.
 
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