Recipe for smoked duck breast
This is my first attempt at cold-smoking duck breast, and it certainly won’t be my last. Wow, is all I can say.
At our home (Read: Especially with my wife and 3-year-old daughter), bacon is highly cherished, so we cure and smoke a lot of pork at home.
For a long time, I’ve wanted to try smoking duck breast, so I based it on my usual bacon recipe.
Typically, the process involves curing for a couple of days in a mixture of 1/3 nitrite salt, 1/3 coarse salt, 1/3 sugar, and a few crushed peppercorns. Then, I cold smoke for 1 – 3 consecutive nights in my smoker, and the meat is aged for 1 – 6 weeks in my curing cabinet.
I know that not everyone has a large and expensive curing cabinet or a smoker, so I decided to create this recipe with a more “normal” approach, making it accessible for everyone!
I spoke with Kim from Meatlovers Delight, a company that primarily sells dry aging bags (special vacuum-sealed bags that can be wrapped around the meat you wish to dry age). The bags allow liquid to evaporate, creating a dry aging process. The bags can both capture smoke and dry age your meat, so it was a no-brainer to try them. Kim has long praised his smoke n’ dry bags, so I decided to test them for this recipe.
What Can You Use Smoked Meat For?
In the “old” days, smoking was a common preservation method. That’s why most meats were more or less smoked. Today, we still use smoking because it gives the meat a fantastic flavor!
You can cold smoke, hot smoke, and smoke at “medium heat.” Cold smoking occurs at 15 – 25 degrees, hot smoking at 45 – 80 degrees, and “medium heat smoking” at 25 – 45 degrees Celsius.
Smoked meat is the perfect accompaniment to the tapas table or the New Year’s Eve spread!
Smoked Duck Breast Recipe
I made only a small duck breast in this recipe. However, feel free to make many more! They freeze well, and the time difference between making 5 pieces instead of just one duck breast is actually the same. You will, of course, need a bit more salt and sugar for the recipe though 🙂
Smoked Duck Breast
Equipment
- Deciliter Measure
- Bowl
- Grill
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 pcs. Duck Breast
- 75 gram Coarse salt
- 25 gram Nitrite Salt
- 42.5 gram Sugar
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- First, the meat needs to be brined.
- I always use a mixture of 1/3 coarse salt, 1/3 nitrite salt, and 1/3 sugar, along with a bit of pepper, for my brining.
- Whether you use a brine solution or dry salting, I don't find a big difference, so I typically use dry salting.
- Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well to ensure even distribution.
- Place the meat in the bowl and massage the mixture well into the meat.
- Put the meat in a bag and vacuum-seal it. I typically vacuum-seal the meat to avoid having to turn the bag 1 - 2 times a day, which you normally would have to do. And it also prevents the "fear" of meat juices leaking out and messing up my fridge.
- Place the bag in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. The longer it stays in the brine, the saltier and firmer the meat will become.
- After the 2 - 3 days, take the meat out of the bag and rinse it thoroughly under cold water to remove the salt.
- Dry the meat well. Now it's time to smoke it. I always cold-smoke because I think it gives the best result.
- Vacuum-seal the meat in smoke 'n' dry bags.
- Place an aluminum tray in your grill.
- Pour sawdust into the aluminum tray. The sawdust should be dried in the oven beforehand at 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 - 2 hours. It needs to be dried first to ensure it doesn't go out during smoking.
- Place the sawdust in the aluminum tray. It should be arranged in a thick/high layer in a U-shape.
- Pour a teaspoon of alcohol into one end of the U and light it.
- Let it burn for 30 - 60 seconds, then blow it out. Now you’re ready.
- Place the grill grate on top and place the vacuum-sealed meat on the grate.
- Put the lid on the grill. Typically, I smoke for 1 - 3 consecutive nights, setting it up before I go to bed. Then I put it in the fridge when I get up the next morning. If it's cold outside, I usually smoke during the day. You can, of course, also use your smoking oven if you have one, and you can also use smokepins.
- After smoking, place the meat in the fridge on a rack to "dry/age" for 1 - 4 weeks, depending on how firm you want it.
- Bon appétit!