' home cured DUCK PROSCIUTTO with MELON .'

Home cured Duck breast Prosciutto served with Compressed Cantaloupe in lemon vinaigrette, Olive oil & Powdered Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar reduction and micro greens.

              October was a month of a few simple charcuterie projects I had wanted to do for a while now. As I've been recovering from a third bout of surgery on my foot, these little projects have been a perfect   therapy. Just a little light preparation and then some patience while they cured, brined, pickled or corned, depending on the project at the time. There are quite a few recipes available, which I find to be safe and easy to do from home and really for the results at the end, its worth the wait. To name a couple that I do from home, Duck breast pastrami and prosciutto, duck liver pate, pickled lambs tongue, nitrate free bacon and smoked oysters, salmon and trout. Duck prosciutto I would recommend to any one wanting to give charcuterie a go, as its hard to go wrong, providing you're working in an hygienic environment and clean hands and work tools and surfaces. The duck prosciutto consists of just three ingredients, the duck breast, salt and white pepper, with a bit of cheesecloth, some kitchen string and 7-10 days of patience and Voila.        
              First of all, I rinsed the duck breast under cold running water before pat drying. In a glass container I spread 1 cup of evaporated sea salt (course mill), placing the breast on to the salt, skin side up. I then placed a 2nd cup of salt over the top of the breast, making sure to completely cover the duck. This was then covered with plastic wrap and placed in the fridge for 24 hours. I then rinsed the salt from the duck breast which was now firm and had gone quite red in colour, before pat drying with a towel and seasoning with the anti-bacterial properties of the white pepper. The duck was then wrapped in a couple of layers of cheesecloth before being strung with kitchen string and hung in a dark, cool place (8-10C) for 7-10 days. After a week I started checking on the meat by gentle pressing the thickest part of the cut. When the meat was firm to the touch, which was around the 9th or 10th day it was ready to be sliced and sampled. When sliced thinly enough the layer of breast fat just melts away on your tongue and together with the saltiness of the duck flavoured meat is just perfection for the palate.                                                                                                                      
               For this dish, I stuck to the perfect match for an accompaniment, rock-melon, to which I sliced into 5cm long, 1 x 1 cm batons. The batons were then placed into a food grade plastic pouch with some lemon vinaigrette and vacuum sealed on high. These were left in the fridge overnight to compress, breaking down the structures of the fruits cell walls, releasing the natural sugars and flavour of the melon, as well as soaking in the vinaigrette. To make the reduction I simple simmered down some balsamic vinegar and a little sugar until thick and syrupy. The powdered olive oil was made by mixing at a ratio of 40/60, Olive oil to Tapioca Maltodextrin (N-zorbit M) until light and fluffy. To plate I placed the compressed melon batons lined diagonally across the plate topping each with a slice of duck prosciutto and the olive oil powder. This was then garnished with some micro greens and on one side of the dish I placed some dots of balsamic reduction and on the other side I drizzled some olive oil.        

october offerings' PICKLED LAMBS TONGUE .'

Pickled Organic grass-fed Lambs tongue with Sous vide Baby beetroot in raspberry sauce, Sheep's milk Curd snow, Apple & German chamomile oil and chamomile leaves. 

                 The third instalment of the 'october offerings', this dish is a variation of one that was getting around the tables of L'Enclume a few years back. The sheep's milk curd snow is very light and delicate but refreshing against the earthy sweetness of the raspberry sous vide beets and the apple infused oil. All giving way to the acidity of the pickled tongue and its strong lamb flavours. The pickled tongue underwent a 3 week brining and pickling process listed below, before it was sliced thinly to be served.        
                 After the tongue was detached and removed from the sheep head, I rinsed the tongue under cold running water before placing the tongue into a glass container. I then prepared a brine of salted water, covering the tongue with the brine and refrigerating overnight covered. The next day I rinsed the tongue under cold running water again before this time simmering the tongue on a medium heat in a  brine of water, apple cider vinegar and salt for about 2 hours until the tongue was tender. The tongue was then rinsed again and the outer membrane was removed. In a saucepan I brought to the boil some water, vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns. I then placed the tongue into a sterilised jar and covered the tongue with the cooled pickling liquid, securing the jar with a lid, the the tongue was placed into the fridge and allowed to mature for 3 weeks. To make the curd snow, I first made the curd as per earlier posted this month. Only once the curd was drained of all its whey, I formed a ball with the curd and placed it into the freezer to freeze solid. Once the curd was solid, using a grater I shaved the frozen curd to form a powdery snow. In a small saucepan I gently heated some olive oil with a few strips of apple peel and some german chamomile leaves. The oil was then removed from the heat and allowed to stand and infuse until cool. The oil was then strained through cheese cloth and ready to be used. The last application was the beets of which I simply peeled, quartered and placed into a food grade plastic pouch with some frozen raspberry sauce. The pouch was vacuum sealed and placed into a 84C water bath for an hour. The beets and sauce were then removed from the pouch and chilled before being served.