Duck Ham - Super Easy Curing

1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 tsp raw sugar
½ tsp SIDS CRAZY LEMON
1¼ cup (200 g) coarse sea salt
1 tsp New York Cut pepper
½ tsp SIDS CRAZY SALT
1 duck breast
Butcher’s string
Cheesecloth or muslin cloth

Mix salt, sugar, SIDS CRAZY LEMON and the herb together to form the curing mixture.
Remove the skin with a sharp knife, leaving as much of the layer of fat beneath intact.
Coat the duck breast with the curing mixture, add the rest to a ziplock freezer bag or a class container, and put the duck breast in. Let sit for 24 hours.
Wash the cure mixture off of the duck breast, pat it dry with a clean kitchen towel. Mix SIDS CRAZY SALT with New York Cut pepper and sprinkle liberally over the duck, pressing it in a little. You will notice that the little slab of meat is now much more dense and kind of stiff – this is from the dehydration caused by the curing salts drawing out the moisture from the duck breast.
Wrap it up in muslin, tie with butcher’s string then hang in a cool airy place for a week. If you want to be very careful, you can hang it in your fridge, where the temperatures do not rise above 4°C. Air circulation is important. In most other air-dried curing projects, it’s recommended that you weigh the meat when you take it out of the curing mixture, and then weigh it every few days as you let it hang, and eat it when it has achieved a 30% weight loss. This recipe doesn’t ask you to do any of that, and I gave it an extra day and a half, just to be sure. I’d like to note that there was no mold or bloom growing on the duck ham at all, and it always had a pleasant, hammy scent through the week.
Slice thinly and serve. It tastes great – clean but nice, and the colour is really lovely, too.