Cured Duck Magret

[Ianinfrance]

If anyone has access to a real duck magret - the breast fillet from a moulard duck, fattened for foie gras, then this is a wonderfully simple way of curing it to make the kind of slivers so often found in warm salads in France.

Salt Dried Duck Magret

1 large duck magret
coarse (sea or kosher) salt.
ground black pepper (NB) or
ground red pepper such as piment d'espalette

NB, try using different peppers such as cubeb or long pepper, or vary with other dried herbs.

Take a raw duck magret, remove any membrane from the flesh side and place it skin side down, on a 1 cm bed of salt. Cover generously in more coarse salt making sure there is at least 1cm overall, and place in a refrigerator for 12 hours.

This done, remove it from the salt, rinse and dry it in paper towel. Sprinkle generously with black or red pepper. Leave to dry 2-3 weeks, wrapped in a clean cloth, in the bottom of a refrigerator. Use the shorter time if your refigerator is ventilated, and longer if not, especially with solid shelves, when it is a good idea to turn the packets every two or three dass.

At the end of this time, the magret will have considerably reduced in volume, and will be as dry as a country ham.

To serve, cut into thin slices and serve as an aperitif or with a green salad, possibly accompanied by foie gras, in which case it is called a Salade Landaise.

[saucisson]

Sounds superb, is it worth trying with an ordinary duck breast?

Dave

[Ianinfrance]

Hi Dave,

I've never tried it, to be honest, as we live in an area where magrets are dead easy to find. In fact it's probably harder to find an ordinary fillet from a "roasting" duck. We can get "roasting ducks" but I'm afraid I know enough about how they're raised to know I don't want to touch them. Given that most meats cure pretty well, - think of dried beef, mutton ham etc, I'd have expected that the small fillets from an ordinary duck would be pretty tasty - though they might be a bit small.

[saucisson]

Thanks Ian.

Dave

[wheels]

Which type is that they have in the Landes Ian. If I recall correctly they were a red label product.

Phil

[Ianinfrance]

Hi Phil,

This has turned into rather a long answer. Sorry.

When you say "product" in that context, I presume you're referring to duck breast fillets rather than magrets. I've never seen any labels attached to magrets - but I'd not really expect to considering how I buy mine.

I'm afraid I have to say that I've no idea what kind of label gets applied to normal duck fillets. I'm not trying to be dismissive in any way, merely admitting to complete ignorance. I'm not trying to take any kind of moral high ground on this, but I buy magrets at Brive market from suppliers I've known for years and trust, and as part of a meal, they work out at around €4 per person. I vastly prefer them to ordinary duck, even for asian food, (though not at all authentic). So you see... I pass in front of the meat counters on which duck breast fillets are displayed without really looking at them.

I am a little cynical about most of the labels applied to foodstuffs in France, I'm afraid to say. I've got several good friends who are involved in the production of food (a veal farmer, a wine maker, veg growers, pork farmer , dairy farmer etc) and most of them tell me that the only thing the organizers of the labels are REALLY keen on is to ensure that they are paid for the producers' adhesion to the scheme. That's not to say that the ideals are unworthy, but often in reality, they aren't policed or that tough anyway. For example..... if you're worried about the foodstuffs given to chickens (recycling dead diseased birds is what led to the spread of salmonella in eggs) then I'm unimpressed by a label which says "fed on 90% grains and minerals" So what's the 10% then?

Where "Label Rouge" is useful in chicken production for example, is that they guarantee a minimum of 81 days before slaughter, which is WAY better than most chickens in the UK. (I don't know the comparable figures for other food animals).

I know that I'm incredibly privileged living in an area why I can really know just how my food animals are treated. It's one of the many reasons we fell in love with here.

I am sure that we could do the same if we lived in a rural area in the UK, by the way. But it really would be hard trying to find where your local butcher in Walthamstow sourced his pork and how the pigs were raised!

[wheels]

Many thanks Ian.

Phil

[Ianinfrance]

Hi again Phil

I suddenly realized I didn't really answer your question. The Landes is/are an area where a lot of duck foie gras is eaten, though not as much is raised there is in the Gers and the Dordogne. So it's likely that most of the breast meat will be from fattened moulard ducks - magrets. But there would be nothing to stop supermarkets selling ordinary breast fillets too.

If you had a salade landaise, then it certainly will have contained cured magret.

[wheels]

Many thanks Ian - I had assumed that it had to be a particular breed to attain 'label rouge' protection. As it is with a lot of the certifications in the UK, it seems that I was a bit naive in putting my faith in a label.

Phil