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Cured duck

I was at work recently when one of my colleagues brought in some cured duck that he'd prepared. It was delicious - and he told us it was very easy to prepare. Essentially, you just add salt and pepper and leave it in the fridge for a few months. What could be easier?

Cured duck (and a bit of saucisson)...

Well, a good friend of mine is a chef, and he happened to ring me this afternoon. So, I decided to double-check with him: he agreed with the basic tenet, but gave the sensible advice that it would be wise to have a quick look on the internet first. That lead me to a few articles of which one was particularly good (and the others served primarily to reinforce or to provide more detail which I didn't really require). The essence is that salt both draws out the fluid from the meat while also killing any bacteria that might be around. You completely cover the meat in salt for a day or so, then wipe it off and recover in salt and pepper and whatever other spices you fancy. Then you wrap in a piece of cloth and leave it to air in the fridge for a few months.

Well, I don't like to do things by half measures, so I'd bought myself a piece of organic farmer's duck filet (breast) that weighed 456g and cost 19.85 euros. I also bought 1kg salt ("organic" - does that exist?! I thought it just came from the sea..) and some pepper and dried onion pieces (also all organic) which I guess in total cost about another 5-10 euros. I've now smothered the meat in salt and placed it in a container that has salt above and below, and then placed the whole thing in the refrigerator.

I'll try to remember to report back what happens...