So far, 2011 can suck it! My year started with a New Year’s Day trip to the Apple store where an obviously hungover “genius” informed me that my computer was down for the count. It has since been shipped off for repair. Three days later I had my first ever root canal. Even though I was introduced to the pleasure of dental care while receiving nitrous gas, the root canal did not go well. I have a huge swollen cheek, a very sore mouth and I haven’t eaten solid food in over 48 hours.
However, I realize that these are truly first-world problems. My computer will be returned, good as new (thank the Lord for Time Machine), and my tooth will heal. In fact, I should consider myself lucky for having access to good dental care and insurance to help pay for it. And can I just say, I have the best husband in the world. He has not only been waiting on me (bringing me soup and ice cream) since my root canal, but he also let me completely wipe his computer clean so that I could install my Time Machine back-up on his computer while mine is in the shop. That’s love people.
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I started this blog two years ago, in January of 2009. As it is now starting it’s third year, I have decided on a few changes. My original goal was to build recipes around my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box, and I’m still going to do that in the winter (as I am lucky enough to have access to a year-round CSA). However, in the summer my produce will be coming from Farmer’s Markets. I love going to the market, picking out the very best looking produce I can find and then feasting on it for the week. It’s fun to be able to talk the farmers that are actually growing the food. It feels very different then picking up a sealed box from behind a house in my neighborhood. Plus I can buy eggs, meat, poultry, bread, pasta and so much more while I am there. I like the idea of supporting smaller farms and purveyors so that is what I am going to do.
The second change is that I have joined a group of bloggers in a year-long Charcuterie challenge called Charcutepalooza (pronounced shar-coo-ta-pa-loo-za). Each month challenge co-creators Mrs. Wheelbarrow and The Yummy Mummy will present a new meat-curing challenge using a recipe from Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michal Ruhlman. I have been interested in meat curing for a while, so this seems like the perfect excuse to jump in with both feet. I won’t be posting any of Ruhlman’s recipes here. But I will show method and also how I use my finished product.
The last change, which I think everyone will like, is a concerted effort at more frequent blogging. My goal is one new recipe a week, though at times a recipe post may be replaced with a photography post and I’m counting charcutepalooza posts towards my goal. They always say goals don’t mean anything if you don’t write them down, so, here I am, putting it out there for the world to see.
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So, even though I can’t eat solid food right now, that doesn’t mean I can’t get some started to eat in a couple of weeks. The first charcutepalooza challenge is Duck Proscuitto (page 54-55 of Ruhlman’s book). I actually tried this recipe a few years ago but I hung it to dry in the back of the fridge which is colder than recommended. It ended up a bit like duck jerky so I am hoping for better results this time.
Ruhlman’s recipe is for a plain duck prosciutto, cured in salt then sprinkled with pepper and hung to dry. After a bit of reading about the recipe, it seems that there is quite a bit of room for some creativity with the seasonings. I decided to make two versions, one cured in salt with five-spice seasoning and a second using Herbes de Provence. I probably should have done a plain version as a “control” group, but that is just not how I roll.
Five-Spice mix (peppercorn, cinnamon, star anise,
fennel seed and cloves) getting toasty
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My version of Herbes De Provence: Dried thyme, sage,
fennel, rosemary, marjoram and lavender.
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Each mix was combined with kosher salt. and then I used each to cover two pekin duck breasts completely.
After 24 hours, I removed each breast from the salt, rinsed them, dried them, then tied each in cheesecloth and hung them to dry. I wish that I had saved a little of each spice mix to rub on to the duck breasts after their overnight stay in the fridge, but I didn’t (I blame the vicodin).
For now, I am using my pantry/laundry room as my “curing chamber”. It is the only room in our house that doesn’t have any insulation and it is cold in there in the winter. At times, it may be a little colder then the optimum temperature of 50-60 degrees (during last weeks cold snap it was only 44 degrees in there) but I am hoping it will work.
Ruhlman says that drying should take eight days but Mrs. Wheelbarrow has had good luck with shooting for a 30% loss in moisture (which could take more or less time), so that is my plan as well. My duck breasts are fairly small so it will be interesting to see just how long they will take.
Maybe, just maybe, 2011 is going to turn out okay.
