Duck prosciutto

I made my own duck prosciutto!

Duck prosciutto is like regular prosciutto, made from duck breast. (Duck ham, in other words.) It is the easiest thing in the world to do.

First, wait for your local supermarket to run a sale on duck breasts. I got mine for $4 each.

Rinse and completely pat them dry with paper towels. Place a thick layer of kosher salt in a Pyrex casserole dish; nestle the dried-off duck breasts in the salt, so that they aren't touching each other. Cover completely with more salt. Wrap this in plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge for 24 hours.

In 24 hours, take them out of the salt and brush them off. The color and texture will already have changed (darker and firmer, respectively). Wrap each one in cheesecloth, tie with twine, and hang in your refrigerator for two weeks.

That's it. Very little effort for a huge reward--duck prosciutto that would cost you upwards of probably $15 a pound at the store.

Now, you may wonder how you hang something in a fridge, when refrigerators don't come with hooks in the top. I tied my two duck breasts together and draped the twine around a mustard bottle in the door of the fridge, allowing the duck to hang into the door shelf below. That worked pretty well for me.

The best thing to do with duck prosciutto is, of course, eat it all by itself. You can also eat it with cheese, or substitute it in recipes that call for prosciutto. I'll post some ways to use this magical stuff in the next few days.