Duck fat and grapefruit salad

Awwww yeah. Hot duck fat poured over napa cabbage. Just what you always wanted, right?

It's actually a much more balanced salad than it sounds. The crispy raw cabbage is cut by the acidity of the grapefruit but then there's the richness of the duck fat. Delicious hot or cold, but best hot.

2 grapefruit
6 cups shredded napa cabbage
1/4 cup duck fat
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

Grate the zest off the grapefruit and set aside. Cut out the segments (without the pith or membrane) and juice the remainder. Save the grapefruit segments and juice. Shred the cabbage and place in a large bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the duck fat over medium heat and add the shallot. Cook til softened, add the remaining duck fat and the grapefruit segments and juice. Stir until hot. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and toss to mix. Serve immediately.

Spaghetti carbonara with duck proscuitto

Remember the duck proscuitto? Try spaghetti carbonara with duck proscuitto instead of bacon. It will change your life.

1 lb spaghetti
1/2 duck proscuitto breast, cubed
10 ounces frozen peas (1 package)
4 eggs
1 cup fresh grated parmesan
black pepper

Mix the eggs, parmesan, and pepper in a large bowl. It should have the consistency of thick batter. Add the frozen peas to the cooking spaghetti. When the pasta is done, drain it quickly. Don't linger, as it's good to capture some of the water. Dump the steaming spaghetti and peas into the egg mixture, and agitate well to cook the egg. Add the duck proscuitto. Mix well.

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.