In celebration of my 35th, I unwrapped the duck prosciutto that has been curing in my office.

I have to admit it was a touch scary looking. All the white in the photo is fuzzy white mold and white speckles of straight meat rot. My mother has spent years training us not to take risks with meat. It could KILL you. I tried using my rational mind to break down what might actually happen. The bacteria that would be most harmful in this case would probably be salmonella. While fatalities do occur, the CDC reports occurrences in the U.S. population as five per million people, not too common. I bolstered my courage by re-reading Grocery Guy’s post on his own experience where he writes:

“Keep in mind that if this project goes wrong YOU WILL KNOW IT. So don’t get freaked if there’s a little mold on the duck breast when you take it down. If it doesn’t smell like a jar full of duck crap, it’s fine. Don’t be a pussy, wipe it off and eat the motherfucker.”

And so I did.

It appeared like normal cured meat but dry not fatty and supple like proper prosciutto. This, I assume, is from using lean duck breasts. The texture is stiff like a salami.

I experienced no ill effects and it was quite tasty. Happy birthday to me.