Sous vide smoked duck breast

Duck breast cooked at low temperature, sous vide style (without the use of a vacuum sealer) and cold smoked. It's a delicious recipe, the flavor of the smoked duck breast is very good. The process is easy to execute. The breast was packed in a plastic food bag, removed as much air as possible, closed with string and cooked at 80ºC for one hour. Cold smoking was done using a common barbecue, with apple sawdust over the embers.

The barbecue was closed with a lid that contains a small opening at the top for the smoke to escape. The important thing in cold smoking is not to let the temperature in the area where the meat is located exceed 40ºC. The duck breast was left hanging for 8 hours next to the grill's smoke outlet.

Sous vide smoked duck breast ingredients

• 500 g duck breast
• 10 g salt
• 4 g sugar
• 1.2g curing salt 1 (6.25% of nitrite and 93.75% of salt)
• 1.2g antioxidant (with sodium erythorbate)
• 1 g garlic powder
• 1 g powdered ginger
• 1 g allspice
• orange peel zest to taste
• apple tree sawdust

Sous vide smoked duck breast preparation

• Separate the duck breast, keeping the skin;
• Add all the ingredients and store in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours so that the seasonings incorporate into the meat and the curing salt begins its protection and coloring reaction;
• After 12 hours in the fridge, pack the breasts well, preferably in a vacuum;
• Cook in water at 80ºC for 1 hour;
• Quickly dry the meat with a paper towel;
• Cold smoke for 8 hours. I lit the hot charcoal in a barbecue, placed the apple tree sawdust on top of the coals, also the barbecue with a lid with holes in the top. I hung the duck breasts over the holes in the grill lid, which are like the chimney of a traditional smoker;
• After 8 hours, slice thinly and serve or package well and refrigerate;
• Smoked products have good durability because the smoke works as a preservative. The shelf life is around 60 days, well packaged and refrigerated.