Dried Peppered Duck Breasts (Magrets Seché au Poivre)

A french classic for preserving duck breats....and mighty delicious too!

Not the recipe I am doing this weekend...as I want smoked duck breasts this time round. Nonetheless a very nice way to enjoy preserved duck and definately one to try for those who prefer their meats unsmoked, so long as they don't mind a little heat.....the pepper is very pronounced in this traditional version.

Ingredients 

12 Duck Breasts / Magrets de Canard
5 Kg Sea Salt / Gros Sel
10 Bay Leaves / Feuilles de Laurier
Herbs / Herbes de Provence
Pepper / Poivre

* Herbes...it really is up to you, I would use what I have here in large quantities from the garden..so in my case Wild Marjoram mixed with Thyme and perhaps a little Origano thrown in for good measure. If you are relying on store bought herbs, its probably best to just use the mix sold as Herbes de Provence...as its available in large quantities in supermarkets at a reasonable price.

Method

Mix the salt with the herbs and bay leaves by hand, until you obtain a uniform distribution of herbs.

Place a 2cm layer of the salt herb mix into a large glass baking tray (for smaller quantities) or the bottom of a good solid cooler box....now we're talking!

Clean the duck breasts taking care to remove any bloody bits.

Rub each breast throughly on the flesh side and sides with the salt mixture, then lay flesh side down on the bed of salt.

Repeat until the tray is full (don't overfill a shallow dish, you need space for more salt).

Once all the breast are well salted, cover with yet more salt.

Pack the salt in well around the breasts, adding more salt if needed so it just covers the surface of the fatty sides of the breasts.

Cover with a teatowel and either leave them 18 to 24 hrs in the bottom of the fridge. If using a cooler box, you can add freezer blocks over the whole caboddle and store them out of harms way. In winter a cold place, say a garage or a barn can substitute for the fridge!

Once the time is up and the breasts are nicely salt cured, take them out of the salt and rinse very throughly.

Pat dry with kitchen towels or a tea towel then set aside to let the surfaces dry a little..2 hrs should be enough.

Now take a tea towel and lay it out on a flat surface.

Grind black pepper coarsely over a good half of the tea towels surface.

Take a duck breast work some pepper into the flesh, rubbing a little to ensure a full and even distribution.

Lay the breast on the pepper covered tea towel and wrap it up so that the peppered part is in contact with the meaty side.

Once all your breasts are wrapped in individual tea towels, move them to the bottom of the fridge or other suitable cool place and leave them there for  at least 3 wks.

The breasts will be ready and can be eaten straight away after the three weeks, although they can be hung and further dried if so desired. They will keep a pretty long time, just not very long around here!

It can be a good idea to vacumm pack indiviual breast when you find that they have dried to your taste to avoid over drying.

Enjoy!