January Challenge: Duck Prosciutto

To make this as challenging as possible, J. and I went to Chinatown to get whole bird. And I mean whole. Head and feet still attached and even a few feathers that were missed. I'm not ready for my food to look back at me. J. made Chinese style whole fish once and sad squeamish me couldn't touch it until he took it back in the kitchen and cut it's head off. I know, I'm pathetic. J's mom would have laughed at me, plucked the eyes out with her chopsticks and proclaimed them a delicacy.

The butcher did laugh at me when J. asked him to remove the head and the feet for me. At first he didn't understand. He cut the pieces off without any question, but then threw them in the bag along with the rest of the duck for me to take home. J. had to explain, "No, my wife is American. She doesn't want the head."

Oh well. Squeamish stomach: 1, Cook: 0.

The plan had been for J. to help me cut up the duck, but a couple of late nights in a row worked against us. I'd already lost one round with the head, and I was determined not to let the rest of the duck go to waste just because I was too afraid to cut it up by myself. It was less than pretty, and I had to close my eyes once or twice (not a good idea with a knife in your hand by the way), but I managed to get two breasts, two legs, two wings, and a duck carcass with a lot of wasted meat on the bones. I'll call it a draw.

Squeamish Stomach: 1.5, Cook: 0.5

Time to call it a night. I set up the duck breasts in salt and wrapped the legs and wings and put away to cook for dinner the next day. But there was that headless carcass still looking at me. "Don't waste me!" it said, "I can still be useful!" Duck stock it is! I put the carcass in a large stock pot, covered with water, and put it on the stove to simmer for a few hours. All that meat I couldn't get off the bones? Now part of a delicious duck broth!

Squeamish Stomach: 1.5, Cook: 1.5

The next day I did a simple red wine braise with the legs and wings. Unfortunately it was so delicious I couldn't get J. to hold still and let me take a photo before he started digging in.

Squeamish Stomach: 1.5, Cook: 2.5

I rinsed the salt off the duck breasts, wrapped them in cheesecloth and hung them in the hall closet to dry. And then I waited. And waited. A week is a really long time to wait to eat something! On the plus side, by the time the prosciutto was ready I found asparagus at the farmers' market. I planned to make Asparagus with Prosciutto and Cocoa Nibs. Somebody used all my cocoa nibs to make beer, but the roasted asparagus and prosciutto was exceptionally good without them.

Recipes:

Asparagus with Prosciutto and Cocoa Nibs

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