I’m curing meat for the first time. I’m doing a duck prosciutto hanging in the refrigerator. My concern is that after 5 days, the meat has only lost 2.8% of its original hanging weight (from 695g to 675g), but the recipes I’m following suggest it should be ready after \~7 days, and have lost 30% of the weight, which is a target that I’m very far from!
I’m mostly following the Michael Ruhlman adapted recipe in the New York Times ([https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018117-duck-prosciutto](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018117-duck-prosciutto)), but I made one change based on some other recipes I read, which is that I have the two duck breasts pressed and trussed together (meat sides together, skin facing out).
The refrigerator is \~38 degrees F, and 73% humidity.
So I guess my questions are:
* will this be ready after 7 days, or should I wait for 30% weight?
* Is the 30% target not actually applicable to duck prosciutto?
* Is it a problem that it’s drying so slowly? Will it spoil if it doesn’t dry fast enough?
* Should I make a change to make it dry faster? Perhaps un-wrap and re-wrap/hang each breast separately?
* Is the slow drying speed related to using the refrigerator? My primary other option for drying is the basement which is \~65 degrees F.
Thanks for the help!
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https://preview.redd.it/olkgp71wq1lc1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d63f35ef07662c193867f23a07efad2a6b32175
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by Any-Thing2399