During the holidays, I want to treat myself and my loved ones to something delicious! I suggest making dried duck breast. Moreover, we prepare it in advance, several days in advance, when the holiday bustle has not yet taken hold of you! All that remains is to take it out of the refrigerator, cut it and serve it, and you can also add it to cold cuts.

The salt you need is coarse-crystalline; it dissolves slowly and draws moisture out of the meat well. You can use your favorite spices, but rosemary, juniper and thyme add such an aroma and taste that it’s impossible to resist! If you don’t like it spicy, you don’t have to add chili pepper. Cognac adds aroma and disinfects.

So, let's get ready! Take duck breast fillet with skin, the listed spices and herbs, salt, sugar.

Crush the spices into large crumbs, mix with salt, sugar and add cognac.

We will make diamond-shaped cuts on the duck skin down to the meat. This is done to ensure that the meat is salted evenly.

Distribute the spicy mixture over the meat on all sides, rub into the cuts from the skin side.

Then put it in a container for 6 hours and put it in the refrigerator. During this time, turn over 1-2 times.

After the time has passed, take out the duck breast and shake off all the salt (you will see that it has not all dissolved). For convenience, I cut the breast into two parts. Blot it well from moisture with a paper towel. Now wrap each half in clean cotton cloth. Place in the refrigerator for 4-7 days to ripen.

During this time, it is necessary to turn the packages over and change the fabric, as it will absorb moisture from the meat. This is done in the first two days, then the breast dries out.

This is what the dried duck breast looks like after a week. When serving, slice it thinly. This appetizer will decorate the table for any holiday (New Year, Birthday or March 8th)!

Friends, today we are preparing an unusual recipe - dried duck breast at home. – a real miracle: vitamins, proteins, micro- and macroelements, and low calorie content (only 156 Kcal per 100 g). At the same time, it is nutritious and satisfying. It is prepared with potatoes, rice, vegetables...

Dishes with duck breast are especially appreciated and popular. Among them is a recipe for dried duck breast. This is a real delicacy that you can make yourself at home. If you cook it correctly, you will get not only tasty meat, but also healthy meat, since it does not contain preservatives or chemical additives. The only preservative is natural salt. Therefore, dried duck meat can be consumed by absolutely everyone without worrying about health.

Dried duck breast is perfect on its own with a frothy beer, a glass of wine, or simply a delicious cut for a holiday table. It can be used to prepare salads, sandwiches, canapés, etc. Drying breast meat is very simple and does not require any special skills. The main thing is to have patience and wait a certain amount of time, and it will take quite a bit, about 2 weeks.

According to this recipe, you can dry not only duck breast, but also goose, turkey or chicken. The only difference is in the time of salting and drying, because... The size of the meat pieces is different.

Let's see how to cook dried duck breast - the recipe for the entire process is accompanied by step-by-step photographs.

• Duck breast – 2 pcs. (weight about 250 g)
• Salt – 250-300 g
• Mixture of ground peppers – 1 tbsp. l.

How to cook air-dried duck breast

1. Wash the breasts and dry them with a paper towel. Remove the skin with the fat layer.
   You can do this at will. If you leave it, the finished breast will look more impressive when served. At the same time, keep in mind that the skin contains a lot of fat and cholesterol, so if you want to get a more dietary product, it is better to remove the skin.
   

   If the bird is old, it may have a specific smell. Young carcasses do not have it, so I recommend choosing milk ducks.

   If you get a mature bird, you can get rid of the smell as follows. Soak the breast in milk or sprinkle it with vodka or cognac. Leave the piece to soak for half an hour and then cook it according to the recipe.

2. Let's select a convenient form for pickling and pour half a portion of salt onto its bottom.
   
3. Place the duck breasts on a layer of salt.
   
4. Sprinkle them with the remaining salt so that the meat is covered with salt on all sides.
   
5. Leave it to salt in the refrigerator for a day.
   This time needs to be adjusted to your taste. To keep the meat lightly salted, leave it in salt for 12-14 hours; if you like it salty, then leave it for 24 hours.
6. Remove the breasts from the salt mixture and wash them well. Dry it dry with a paper towel and leave it in the open air for half an hour so that the meat dries well. Then coat it on all sides with a mixture of freshly ground pepper or regular ground black pepper.
   
7. Wrap the breasts in gauze or any other cotton cloth and put them in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
   Or you can hang it in the cellar or on the balcony at a temperature of about 6 degrees.
   

   If you want the meat to be denser, then keep it for 3-4 weeks; if you like soft meat, keep it for 7-10 days.

Keep the cooked duck breast in the refrigerator covered with parchment paper. It can be stored for a long time, up to a month. Just keep in mind that the longer it sits, the denser the meat will become.

We didn’t have it stale, the meat turned out to be extremely tasty, if you haven’t tried such a delicacy yet, I strongly suggest you make dried duck breasts!
Bon appetit!

Look at other recipes for dishes with poultry:

Dried duck is an excellent appetizer that is a good alternative to cold cuts and sausages. The dish turns out not only tasty, but also healthy. After all, during preparation there is no need for heat treatment or the use of preservatives. Let's find out how to properly make dried duck at home by looking at several proven recipes.

Drying whole poultry

How is a whole dried duck prepared? The recipe requires preliminary preparation of the product. First, you should tar the bird. This will remove small hairs from the skin. Having coped with the task, carefully cut the duck along the peritoneum, and then break it in half. Lay the workpiece flat. Using a sharp knife, make deep cuts across the entire surface of the bird, which will allow the meat to be salted better. The cuts should be 3-5 cm apart.

Prepare a wide bowl that will accommodate the carcass. Sprinkle the bottom generously with salt. Rub the duck with it. Place the bird in a container. Place the lid on top of the carcass. Place the load in the form of a weight or a heavy stone. Place the product in the refrigerator. Let the duck salt thoroughly for 2-3 days. Remove the weight daily, turn the bird over, and drain any liquid that has accumulated at the bottom of the bowl.

After the above time has passed, remove the duck from the refrigerator. Wipe the carcass well, removing excess salt. Generously rub the inside of the bird with garlic and sprinkle with pepper. Try to season all the cuts on the carcass. Then wrap the duck in several layers of parchment paper. Securely secure the material using thread wrap.

Hang the carcass in a cool, dark room with good air circulation. For example, you can leave the bird to reach condition on the balcony or under a canopy. The main thing is that the product is not exposed to direct sunlight. Dried duck should remain in these conditions for a week. Over time, the meat will become saturated with salt and spices. The product will harden somewhat. Cooked poultry should also be stored in the refrigerator to prevent it from spoiling.

Dried duck breasts

Place the duck in the freezer for several hours. When time has passed, cut the breast into thin slices. Rub the product on all sides with coarse salt. Place the preparation back into the refrigerator for a day. Rinse the breasts under running water and then pat dry with paper towels.

In a mortar, grind a teaspoon each of black pepper, dried garlic, fennel, paprika, and bay leaf. Rub the meat with the resulting seasoning mixture. Wrap the product in several layers of gauze. Leave the breasts to dry in a cool room. After a few days, the meat will darken and become denser. Unfold the cheesecloth and wipe the dried duck well again to remove excess spices. Store the finished snack in the refrigerator.

Before use, cut the product into thin slices. Serve the snack with beer and other alcoholic drinks at your own discretion. It is advisable to eat the breasts within a few weeks. After all, over time, the meat will harden more and more.

with mint and lemon

Dried duck can be prepared according to the original recipe using mint and lemon as seasonings. Remove skin and fat from the carcass. Carefully separate the fillet from the bones. Rinse the meat under running water and dry. Rub the product on all sides with kitchen salt. Place the preparation in the refrigerator for several days.

Wipe the salt off the meat with paper napkins. Wrap the duck in parchment and leave to dry in a cool place for two weeks. At the end of the specified period, unwrap the package. Rub the meat thoroughly with pre-chopped mint and lemon zest. Place in the refrigerator for a day, which will allow the bird to soak well. When serving an appetizer to the table, do not remove the remaining seasonings to obtain a more piquant taste.

Finally

As you can see, preparing the dish is not difficult. It is important to thoroughly soak the meat with salt and spices. According to technology requirements, the product must be dried at a temperature of no more than +15 °C without access to direct sunlight. Leave the bird to ripen in a dark place with constant air circulation.

Duck breasts – 2 pcs. approximately 300-350 grams
Coarse salt – 400 grams sea or rock salt
For drying
Freshly ground black pepper – 2 tbsp.
Ground red pepper – 2 tsp.
Provençal herbs – 2 tsp.
Freshly ground coriander – 1 tsp
Bay leaf – 3-4 pcs. break finely.

It took me a long time to get to this deliciousness!
How to do it at home?
Where can I get duck breasts that can be dried?

And finally I thought through everything, put together a recipe for myself, searched the internet, read, looked...
Finally, a fresh duck came to me from near Smolensk...

And so I cut the duck, found a part of the duck’s carcass called “breast”... so there’s nothing to eat there... each breast turned out to be 150 grams, including skin and fat... and more fat than meat...

And what to do now?
The desire to make dry-cured duck breast overpowered me, and so did my curiosity!

Preparation:

1. Take duck breasts raw and fresh.

2. Pour 200 grams of salt into a tray and place the breasts on the salt. Pour another 200 grams of salt on top of the breasts and level the salt. Cover with a bag and refrigerate for 1-2 days.
I kept it in salt for almost 2 days.

3. The photo shows how the salt took the liquid from the breast meat. The salt became damp and dirty from secretions.

4. Clean the breasts very well from salt. After salting, the meat still remained soft and pliable.

5. Now we prepare the spices for sprinkling the breasts. Collect all the spices in a bowl.

6. Roll the meat very well in spices, as if trampling the spices into the meat.

7. Wrap each breast in a clean bandage (gauze) and prepare for storage in a cool place.

8. I hung the breasts in the refrigerator on a hook on the top shelf, so that the breasts did not touch each other and there was air access to them and ventilation. When opening the refrigerator, I sniffed the meat, what it smelled like, the color of the bandage. The bandage remained clean throughout the drying period.

9. The breasts hung in my refrigerator for 10 days.
I will try…
I remove the breast, unwrap the bandage, the breast is in good condition, the smell of spices, the duck fat has turned yellow, the breast meat is dark in color, the meat is plastic.

10. I’m slicing the breast – I’ll try it!
The meat is moderately salted, hot with spices, soft, pliable!
Good jerky flavor!
It’s just a pity that the duck breasts are so small in weight and size – but still delicious!!!
It's worth making dry-cured duck breasts, it's worth it!

The photo shows a cut from one breast, the second one continues to ripen in the refrigerator.
You can make a salad with it.
Just right for beer!

Continuation…..

Duck breast has 20 days of curing today!

She feels great and looks like this:

It's dried out, of course, but the taste is great!
Moderately salty, spicy - add salt and beer - it will be just right!
The taste is close to basturma.

Next time I have goose breasts and legs, they are already being salted, tomorrow I will hang them in the refrigerator
Goose breasts weigh 340 grams, they will not be so thin when dried.

I conclude that this method of pre-salting meat before drying is the most preferable. The meat takes as much salt as it needs, and spices to taste.

I don’t have a cellar...so I dry my breasts (goose and turkey) and goose legs like this, in the refrigerator.

As soon as the refrigerator door opens, everything is immediately checked for both appearance and smell - the flight is normal!

We'll try turkey breast in a week.

This is what the turkey breast looks like today, darkened and tastes more like basturma - but very tasty!!! And if you add lemon...

Looking at the photo at night...10 days of drying have passed - last report
Goose legs and breasts

Meat plate. In a circle - goose leg, turkey, goose breast.

The meat still needs to be dried, but what a gorgeous color it turned out! Soft and tasty!
There will be a good snack for the table for the New Year, just right!!!

Breast, leg, turkey

The turkey has been hanging since November 21 and the meat is ready and ready to eat. Delicious, moderately salty and spicy!

I constantly remember Natalya, who has the opportunity every day to walk past a whole goose and cut off a piece from it - how yummy!!!

Bon appetit

The question is often asked, how dangerous is homemade dry-cured meat to health?

Salting and drying meat - ancient methods of preserving meat without chemical preservatives, by removing its own juices, liquid from the meat with salt, and then adding spices.

Read the topic, I have already described this principle more than once, and the opinion of experts on this subject and technology.

With proper hygiene and manufacturing technology, nothing will happen to the meat - tested from my own experience.

From the book “Cooking Techniques” by Sarah Labensky, James Fitzgerald

One of the ways to preserve food, especially meat. - rubbing. Salt is most often used for rubbing. Try to use no more (but no less) two teaspoons of salt for every 300 grams of meat. If you want to make its taste and aroma more intense, you need to add spices to the rubbing salt. Mix salt with brown sugar and add cumin, coriander, dried ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and various types of ground white and black pepper.

Rub the meat with salt and spices. If you have a thick piece of meat, such as pork butt, add more salt.

As you already know, the surface of meat is a favorable environment for the development of dangerous bacteria, and the preservative composition will help you prevent their appearance. After rubbing the meat with salt and spices, leave it in the refrigerator for 24 hours in a covered pan. The next day, rinse the meat in cold running water. After this, wipe the surface with paper towels or a lint-free cloth.

The canning process allows you to solve two very important problems. First of all, canning foods reduces the proportion of water contained in them. As food becomes much saltier on the outside, water begins to rise from the inside to the surface. The fact that water is always attracted to the part that has a high salt content is a scientifically proven fact. In light of the above, do not be surprised if the next morning you find water in a pan with salted meat. It is a sign that the canning was successful...

Another result of canning is the dehydration of bacteria that are found on the surface of food. Salt and spices attract water from bacterial cells. Without water, bacteria will inevitably die. Thus, after canning, your products, especially meat, can be smoked at any temperature without worrying about your own health during their subsequent consumption. Let's summarize. Products become much safer for health if they are preserved by smoking.

After rinsing off the salt, place the food in the refrigerator again, but this time do not put it in any container. This will remove any remaining moisture from the surface. The products will be covered with a shiny film. A dry surface better absorbs smoke during smoking and prevents the development of pathogenic bacteria.

Drying is also a method of canning. Another way to preserve food is to place it in a humid environment. Salt brine, as well as drying, allows you to reduce the proportion of water in the composition of products. But, unlike dried foods, those that have been in brine may seem too wet. This is due to the fact that when soaking in brine, when water is directed from the inside to the saltier surface of the food, some of the salt penetrates inside. Thus, when brining, the movement of water and salt resembles a two-way street. So in this case, more salt, and therefore more water, remains inside the food. As a result, they remain moist even during smoking. There are foods that are great for pickling in brine.

You can add yellow sugar, honey or black molasses (molasses) to the saline solution. The measure of sugar depends on the weight of salt dissolved in water and is usually equal to a quarter of it. So, if you dissolved half a kilogram of salt, then you need to add 125 g of sugar. You can add seasonings intended for pickling, which are sold in every store, into the brine: garlic powder, cloves, and other spices to taste.

For every 300 grams of meat:
Salt 2 tsp.
Brown sugar ¼ tsp.

And the best option is to buy fresh poultry and meat at the market, the freshest thing possible

It is better not to use defrosted meat and poultry purchased in a store, as well as meat that has been stored for a long time (in the freezer, in a store, or just in the refrigerator) for drying at all!

The moisture gradually leaves and the meat dries over time. It's like dry-cured sausage, over time it becomes dry and salty.

Exit:
- don’t make a lot, because everything is not eaten quickly
- do not let it dry, and when ready, put it in the freezer for storage. I checked it myself and use this method if there is something left over or I want non-dry meat.

Dried meat can be used in various dishes:
- grate on a coarse salad grater, sprinkle on top
- thin slices for pies, pizza
— cook cabbage soup with dried meat, it’s absolutely garbage, delicious! The cabbage soup turns out just like with salted salmon!
- add a little to minced cutlets or dumplings (very tasty!)

If the meat is very dry and a little salty, you can pre-soak it in plain water before using it.

2 comments: “Dry-cured duck and goose breasts”

Very detailed report. There are a lot of photos - you can immediately see what the breast turns into after time. Thanks for the recipe. It’s a bit reminiscent of the Kazakh duck recipe, where the duck is completely rubbed with salt and left to hang for a week, then boiled and served as a cold appetizer - the taste is amazing.

Sashkan, thank you for your feedback!
I would really like to make a whole duck, but home conditions do not allow it. Therefore, I make do with little, but at least I managed to taste the taste!))

A simple recipe for dried duck step by step with photos.

A simple recipe for home-cooked dried duck with photos and step-by-step description of preparation. Easy to prepare at home in 8 hours. Contains only 105 kilocalories.

• National cuisine: home kitchen
• Type of dish: Snacks
• Recipe difficulty: Simple recipe

• Preparation time: 13 minutes
• Cooking time: 8 ocloc'k
• Number of servings: 10 servings
• Calorie Amount: 105 kilocalories

Ingredients for 10 servings

• Duck breast 1 piece
• Salt 1 cup
• Fennel seeds 1 tablespoon
• Ground red pepper 1 tablespoon
• Sumac 1 tablespoon
• Sweet paprika 1 tablespoon

Step by step

1. Wash the chicken breast, remove the skin and dry thoroughly with paper towels.
2. Rub with a little salt.
3. Pour some of the salt into the bottom of the bowl, place the duck, and cover with the remaining salt. Wrap the bowl with cling film and put it in the refrigerator for a day. The dish must be deep enough so that the released juice does not leak out.
4. Then remove the duck, wash off the salt and dry thoroughly again. The meat should change color, become darker and much denser.
5. Mix the spices and rub the duck with them. The end result will be quite spicy, but home conditions cannot be called sterile, so pepper will not be superfluous.
6. Next, the duck will need to be tightly wrapped in gauze and tied tightly with thread.
7. Hang in a dry, not too cold and not too warm, dark place. I hung it in the oven. Leave for 3-4 days and the duck is ready. Check the result carefully. The meat should become very dense and there should be no unpleasant smell.