What a better way than hand-crafted duck prosciutto to welcome the fall, and welcome back DL to the foodosphere!

Inspired by Ruhlman and Polcyn’s Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (like many before me), I’ve been diving into the world of really slow food.  While it is true, that at this very minute, the fridge at Chez DL has both duck confit nestled under a couple of pounds of duck fat, and pork belly curing into bacon, it also has a couple of pounds of duck prosciutto (so I’ve been a little preoccupied with the whole charcuterie thing (so sue me)).  Now, for those of you that have been missing the food porn fiesta going on over on flickr around this very topic, it’s been a lot of fun.

So…just last week, in celebration of one of the round-number birthdays, I opened up my first finished breast of duck yumminess, and sharpening up my sharpest sushi knife, sliced off a razor thin portion.

Duck prosciutto is really unknown in the US.  Of the dozen or so people I’ve talked to, both of the food persuasion and the more rational type, I’ve found only a couple that had ever heard of it, and most couldn’t even imagine it.  Well…there is a reason.

Duck prosciutto is not prosciutto as most people know it.  It lacks the subtlety of pork, preferring instead to simply smack you in the taste buds.  It is gamier, bigger, bolder, and completely interesting.

What it has done at Chez DL is set off a flurry of efforts to find the perfect accompaniments.  I’ve done pear (which works pretty well); by itself (which works really well in very small doses); with crusty bread (also not too bad); and with a drizzle of Ligurian olive oil (which worked surprisingly well).  The key is the fat, which literally dissolves in your mouth.  Its flavor is succulent, and needs some balance.  I’m bringing a breast down to one of my favorite restaurateurs next week, and we’re going to do some experimentation.

In the meantime, DL is back in business.  Keep your eyes peeled for our new spice store opening soon.

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