The Salt Cure

 
Bruce and I have begun the journey in earnest this past weekend  and after a little discussion , we decided to move forward with the pancetta and duck breast prosciutto.  We picked up a small slab of pork belly form a local butcher in town to begin our first experiment, and after a little digging managed to get our hands on the spices and more importantly the curing salt to get the pancetta under way.  

Bruce trimmed up the meat as I  prepared the the herbs, spices and salt for the cure.  Although the scale is microscopic compared to what many families do here and back in the "old" country, I was quickly transported back to my grandfathers home  in fall and winter, with the smell of salt, pepper and pork being prepared for future festivities.

After blending the spices we covered the meat on all sides and found a bag big enough to get the initial curing process started.  The salts quickly began to do their work turning the meat a gray colour within 30 minutes and then to a pink the following day.  I am curious to see how others cures are progressing.

Although traditional pancetta is rolled, we are thinking that we will make this one flat.  Since its quite small, it might be a little tough to get rolled tightly enough to keep air out of the centre preventing spoilage.

A local butcher also gave us some tight netting to use to wrap the pancetta. Has anyone used one of these nets to make pancetta? Although I remember my grandfather using them when making salami and other dried meats, I don't recall him using them on pancettas.

After talking to Bruce this evening, it sounds like things are progressing well... great aroma and the meet is curing well.  The next trick will be to dry it properly.   

I am looking forward to using this pancetta in a good old spaghetti carbonarra in the coming months!

Duck Breasts and Salt

Having grown up with a basement of prosciutto at my grandparents home, the duck breast prosciutto is an exciting proposition.  Its a simple twist on one of my favourite meats that I happily discovered can be accomplished in the comfort of our own homes.  I have not been overly adventurous in what I do with the meat, but I am always happy to sit down to a glass of wine, some cheese and a few slices of prosciutto.

We sourced a few duck breasts from a local butcher. They are smallish, but they seem fresh and the meat had a nice rich colour.  Starting this process, I can start to see  why some of the better quality meats cost so much, when we start to consider the quality of meat, the quantity of salt and other spices, ant the time it takes to properly care for the meat as it dries.

We trimmed up a few duck breasts leaving the skin on for the curing process and started them off in 2 cups of diamond salt.

From there we let them sit for a day packed in salt in the refrigerator where they dried  out a little, firmed up and began to darken in colour. My favourite bits of the prosciutto were always the darkest and driest bits.  Not every ones favourites... but it leaves more for me!

We then did the old wrap and hang in the basement - not ideal conditions but as close as we can get for the time being.  When we wrapped the duck breasts in cheese cloth,  only wrapping with one layer at first. It seemed a little thin, so  on the second one we wrapped with a second layer of cloth...  Its about experimentation so we thought what the heck.

We are hoping to give it a taste shortly.  There is a local shop that sells some of their own duck breast prosciutto - perhaps a taste test will be in order!

The Journey

After a year of exploring molecular gastronomy, Bruce and I are looking forward to  a new journey, a new challenge and to be able to share the experience with so many other people. 

Personally, I am looking forward to trying to revive some of my Nonno's recipes and to learn from everyone out here. 

This is just our first post, but we will be sharing much more - last years success and flops as we ate our way through the recipes of El Bulli, Alinea and the Fat Duck along with new adventures in the Year of Meat.