Anyone made Ruhlman’s Duck Breast Prosciutto recipe or any other dried/cured meat product?
I’m trying 8 goose breasts but I need some advice on drying temps. I did a 36 hr salt cure on 1/2 and 48 hr on the larger ones and now they are in my cold garage hanging in cheese cloth. I weighed them all and we’ll see how long it takes to get down by 30%. I don’t have his book yet so these directions came from his internet site. Given that goose breasts are a bit bigger than duck, I went for longer salt times and the larger ones still felt pretty soft after 36 so that’s why I went for 48.
This is my first attempt so who knows how they will turn out so if anyone has tried this sort of thing, give my your advice.
Thanks
Gee I wish I had ONE goose breast!!
Howd they turn out??
More like goose jerky. Not enough fat on wild goose I guess. Plus I left them to dry too long. Not sure what I will do with them.
I had a friend that made a sandwich spread out of such meats,
if i recall it was sage chicken which are tough as a boot and
that was very good spread/pate.
They’ll be fine in a cold garage. Just keep an eye on them and be careful about squeezing the meat with your fingers. It’s a good way to start mold growing on your precious duck breasts. If you do see any mold a spritz with vinegar takes care of the problem and does not affect the flavor at all.
I imagine that the humidity is pretty low which will make the outside dry faster than the interior. If that does happen vac-seal the breasts after they have lost 30% of weight. Then you can freeze them and pull the prosciutto out at your leisure. When doing so let the sealed bag sit in the fridge for a week or so and it will redistribute the moisture throughout the meat.
It’s tricky to find the optimal conditions of 50-60F and 70ish percent humidity. Too much humidity and mold grows far too easily. Too little and one gets “case hardening”. My brother tells me that up in Wyoming they use the large Rubbermaid trashcans to hang cured meat in.