Dried Duck Magret (Cured Duck Breast)
Home-cured, dry-aged duck breast (magret): raw, never-frozen breasts salt-cured in sea salt, then coated in pepper and herbs and dried for about three weeks. Quantity of breasts is not fixed. The author found the original (black pepper only) and the red-pepper version the tastiest. The rinsing and drying of the breasts must be done both very thoroughly and very quickly, because the flavour of the meat changes if it stays soaked in water too long (elements and low-molecular compounds leach into the water). Ideally dry in a curing/drying cabinet (pastarmarnik); the author moved them there after the fridge showed no signs of ripening in the first 10 days.
Ingredients
| 4 pieces | raw, never-frozen duck magrets (the number is not obligatory) | |
| 2 kg | sea salt | |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | sugar |
| — | black pepper | |
| — | garlic powder | |
| — | red pepper (paprika) | |
| — | savory |
Instructions
- Rinse the duck breasts quickly with cold water to remove any released juices, and dry them thoroughly with a towel. Do this both very thoroughly and very quickly.
- In a container large enough to hold the breasts, with a lid, place a layer of sea salt about 1.5-2.0 cm thick (a little over a kilo in the author's case). Sprinkle the breasts all over with a little sugar (the author sprinkled two with sugar and brushed two with honey) and arrange them on the salt skin-side down (in the original recipes this is said to keep them from becoming too dry).
- Press them firmly into the salt and cover them completely with the remaining salt, pressing it firmly against them. Close the container with the lid and place it in the refrigerator. Curing time varied between one night and 24 hours in different recipes (it was explicitly stated not to exceed this, so the meat doesn't over-dry and over-salt); the author kept them until the salt layer at the bottom of the container stopped changing colour from the released muscle juices.
- Once salting is done, remove the breasts from the salt, rinse them quickly and generously under cold running water and dry them with a towel. They should be visibly smaller in volume, darkened and firm.
- Roll the breasts in black pepper as in the original recipe (the author also tried variants rolled in red pepper, savory, and a mix of savory, red pepper and garlic powder).
- Following the original recipe, wrap the breasts in clean cloths and leave them in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator for 3 weeks; alternatively, dry them in a curing cabinet (pastarmarnik), where ripening proceeds faster (the author dried them there for a further 11 days). Bon appetit et a votre sante!