Recipe from Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn
Adapted by Ian Fisher
- Total Time
- 10 minutes, plus 7 days' curing
- Rating
- 4(200)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Consider using this cured duck, adapted from "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing," by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, as a garnish for salad; as a canapé, on a bit of toasted bread spread with Dijon mustard; or sautéed like pancetta. —Ian Fisher
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Ingredients
Yield:About 48 canapé servings
- 1whole boneless Moulard duck magret or Pekin duck breast, about 1 pound, skin on, split
- 2 to 3cups kosher salt, more as needed
- ½teaspoon ground white pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Weigh breasts individually so you can check their progress toward curing. With a sharp knife, score skin of each breast in a crisscross pattern. Put about 1 cup salt (a half-inch layer) in a nonreactive baking dish that will just hold the breasts without touching. Nestle breasts on top of salt, skin side up. Pour more salt over breasts so that they are completely covered. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 24 hours.
Step
2
Remove duck from salt, rinse thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. The flesh should feel dense and its color will have deepened. Dust breasts with pepper on both sides.
Step
3
Wrap each breast in cheesecloth and tie with string. Hang for about 7 days in a cool (50 to 60 degrees is optimal), humid place, like a garage, a basem*nt or in an unlit fireplace. After curing, the flesh should be stiff but not hard throughout; the color will be a deep rich red. If they still feel raw in the center, hang for a day or two longer. Generally, dry-cured products are ready when they have lost 30 percent of their original weight.
Step
4
Remove cheesecloth, wrap duck in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep several weeks or more.
Ratings
4
out of 5
200
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Cooking Notes
Acoquiner
Similar to the above but with all steps in the refrigerator. I put a duck magret in a ziplock bag full of kosher salt overnight in the refrigerator, then after rinsing cover all sides with pepper and put it back in the refrigerator wrapped in a dishtowel, for at least a week, but two to three weeks is better. Turn the duck from time to time. Absolutely delicious.
C Lewis
I cure duck prosciutto in the refrigerator using a half-gallon milk carton. After the initial cure, I remove enough of the carton top so that the breast fits inside. I then push a skewer through the carton and hang the breast from it. In a couple of weeks it is ready.
Amy
I use a recipe with juniper berries, white and black pepper, bay leaves, coriander, salt and sugar. Much better than just salt (which I have done). More complex flavours.
roger
no you cannot do that with poultry....
Marshall
Roger's concern is respected though I beg to differ. As a leading food safety instructor and chef of many years, now culinary instructor, I must inform you that duck is far different from poultry classifications that include chicken and turkey. First of all, it contains no salmonella. Secondly the bird is entirely red meat thus suitable for curing. For this reason we are able to serve the breast rare.
andreaborn
I've read that you can do it in a refrigerator; just need to figure out how to hang it. Some kind of rack, or suspended from a chopstick placed over a container (google for various homemade contraptions). For the timing, go by the 30% weight loss guideline.
Randy
Yes it is necessary; otherwise the salt will not be able to penetrate the fat and the meat below it well enough to accomplish the "cure" in the time specified. It is dangerous to attempt 'shortcuts' when curing raw meats because of the potential for bacterial contamination. Follow the procedures indicated; they are recommended for a good reason, not whimsy. FWIW, the cross hatching will become less visible after the duck has been dried in cheesecloth for a week as specified.
hxela
This sounds like "case hardening" where the humidity was not high enough during the cure time. The outside dried leaving the inside moisture trapped.
Glenn Talaska
Can the same method be used for turkey or chicken breasts?
Sharon
I can see them, it's the diamond shapes in the duck fat. Looks a little like fish scales.
Doug
I made this is a few years ago and it turned out perfect. I used a recipe that called for 1/4 brown sugar to salt and it added a little sweetness. Hung it in the kitchen in the spring. In Minnesota the temp was between 58 and 65 in my kitchen that time of the year.
Kylie
Hung it off a chopstick across the fridge shelves; left it for about 10 days before slicing-- delicious! Will make again, for sure.
George W Bang
It is hard to believe something so simple could be so utterly amazing. It is the sort of thing that seems almost too good to be true. Try it!
mjan
If you have a wine refrigerator, which is usually set between 50 and 60 degrees, use it for the curing phase. Just place a small bowl of water in the fridge while curing.
MELE
I use this a basis for curing any meat I choose (most often I cure pork belly for ramen recipes and pasta dishes). Easy but time-consuming, you just have to remember to check it. I put the hanging meat in a cabinet in the winter, and the fridge in the summer. And, to make sure everyone in the house ...knows what's hanging in the cabinet.
Sandy
Followed directions but it took 3 weeks to lose 30%. It was hard on the outside, difficult to cut, but it was delicious. Would curing in the fridge help with the toughness?
hxela
This sounds like "case hardening" where the humidity was not high enough during the cure time. The outside dried leaving the inside moisture trapped.
Marshall
Roger's concern is respected though I beg to differ. As a leading food safety instructor and chef of many years, now culinary instructor, I must inform you that duck is far different from poultry classifications that include chicken and turkey. First of all, it contains no salmonella. Secondly the bird is entirely red meat thus suitable for curing. For this reason we are able to serve the breast rare.
Thomas Cali
My biggest challenge was hanging. I never thought four tiny rare earth magnets would ever come in handy but they certainly did that day. I put the string between two of the magnets which tightly held the string. Two more above the glass and viola, hanging duck. Thank you to my daughter's boyfriend for the suggestion!
Kylie
Hung it off a chopstick across the fridge shelves; left it for about 10 days before slicing-- delicious! Will make again, for sure.
Jack
I did this and cured in the fridge for a little over a week wrapped in a cotton sack cloth.
Very tasty, however difficult to cut really thin even using a very sharp knife. Thicker pieces while delicious are just too rich. I trim a section of the fatty skin before slicing. Perhaps a short time in the freezer would make it easier to get thinner slices.
Cash money
I accidentally left the duck breast in salt for 48 hours. Is it ruined or will it just be denser/saltier?
neighome
How deeply should the skin be scored? All the way to the muscle?
neighome
I forgot my duck in the salt brine for a week. I think how deeply the skin is scored with be the least of my problems!
C Lewis
I cure duck prosciutto in the refrigerator using a half-gallon milk carton. After the initial cure, I remove enough of the carton top so that the breast fits inside. I then push a skewer through the carton and hang the breast from it. In a couple of weeks it is ready.
Joe
After literally years of curing meat, sausages, etc, this is a brilliant solution to the unwieldy task of how to hang a piece of meat in the fridge. I wish I'd thought of it. Apologies, but when someone asks "what's that?" in my fridge, I plan to say . . ""Oh, just something I kludged up."
Stephen Klein
Will this work with wild (Canadian) goose breasts, which have no fat?
Me
Both goose and duck breasts are lean but both have a layer of skin that is very fatty.
Paula
Any way of doing this in the Caribbean?
Frank
Yes, if you have access to a wine fridge, which will maintain the 45F to 55F temps needed.
Amy
I use a recipe with juniper berries, white and black pepper, bay leaves, coriander, salt and sugar. Much better than just salt (which I have done). More complex flavours.
Amy Roither
Has anyone tried this recipe with wild mallard breast, or speckled belly geese?
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