Salt and Woodsmoke

We are (I am) making duck ham. The first couple of pieces were duck ham. No saltpeter. Just salt, Peter. They worked well. The duck was good and I had some white pepper to dust them with when they were wrapped for drying. Luscious, salty, hammy, savoury.The next lot were goose ham. (Goose Prosciutto?) These, I think, were/are not so good. Not least because the goose breasts were very thin. They’re nice and pink because I chose not to make bombs but to add saltpeter to the cure and they are peppery because I only had black pepper to rub on them. They are good though. Come into our shop and buy some. You may have to ask nicely though as they aren’t out there yet.
Oh, by the way - duck ham (or goose ham) is this: Take a duck breast, rub it in salt and other stuff. This draws out the moisture. Leave it for 24 hours. Wash and dry. Rub with pepper. Hang to ‘dry’ for a week or so. You could smoke it too. Ends up like prosciutto. Tastes hammy. Great fat. If you like your fat. Easy peasy.

The recipe was from the wonderful Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman.