Red Miso Cured Duck Prosciutto

Red Miso Cured Duck Prosciutto

Recipe

• 1 Duck Breast Trimmed 
• 25% Weight of Duck Breast of Red Miso 

The red Miso used was store bought. Consequently, I did not know how much salt was in the Miso by mass. I knew I needed 3% salt by mass. I know that there are 388mg of sodium per gram of salt. I also knew that there were 48mg of sodium per gram of Miso. From this, I could determine that the Miso used was ~12.3% salt by weight. From this, I could calculate how much red miso was necessary.

 

Over the month that these duck breasts were hanging they lost
 weight at approximately the same rate.

Methodology

Each duck breast was trimmed to remove any excess fat or silver skin. Once trimmed each breast was weighed. Mass was recorded in grams. The necessary miso was measured out. The duck breasts were coated thoroughly with the miso, and all ingredients were added to a ziploc bag. This bag remained in the fridge for 9 days. The red miso lightened in color considerably during this time period. Once removed from the bag, the miso was removed from each breast with a paper towel. Breasts were tied with butchers twine, and hung to dry in the curing chamber. Weight measurements were taken with regularity. Once ~35% of the mass was lost, breasts were removed and vacuum sealed until used. Once opened, they were stored wrapped in paper towels in a ziploc bag in the fridge to keep them fresh. 

Outcome

After a month these miso cured duck breasts came out amazing. in the 9 days that the duck breasts were packed with the miso, they picked up a ton of character from the miso. There is a distinct sweetness to the meat and fat. The flavor was nutty, almost reminiscent of sweet pecans or walnuts and lingers pleasantly. The fat almost melted at room temperature. I'm curious to learn more about how the enzymes in the miso interact with the curing process. Doing different experiments with different types of miso or different ages would be an extraordinary way to explore how different types of fermentation can influence flavor profiles during the curing process. 

Now to put together a HACCP plan to figure out how to get these on the menu at Concordance Ferments!