Duck duck in salt crust, easy festive recipe

This baked cooking in the muffled in the crust of salt makes the meat ultra soft and tasty.

Cooking in the pan just to grab then baking in the oven in the salt crust flavored with herbs. I tell you everything about the recipe, which may seem impressive but in reality is very easy and fast. Always with this little pinch in the heart when you open the salt crust I find. Surprise. Surprise…

Why cooking in salt crust?

Cooking in salt crust is a culinary technique that allows you to cook a food (meat, fish or even vegetable) stifled. It gives softness and concentrates the flavors. It is also a cooking without any fat. No oil or butter added to cooking. In addition, fat and juice are absorbed by the salt crust. Cooking is also uniform.

Contrary to what its name suggests, the salt crust is not 100% salt. The recipes vary but the main ones are often with a lot of coarse salt, a little less flour and egg white for the crust. Are often added herbs or spices to flavor.

The recipe that I offer here is not made with coarse salt but with fine salt. With a greater proportion of flour than salt. To this I add egg white, a little water and a lot of dried rosemary (or herbs from Provence according to what I have). So it’s a bit like a very salty pie dough. In any case, this is the consistency and texture that we want to obtain. The meat, in this case the duck breast, is wrapped in a fairly thick layer, between ½ and 1 centimeter of this dough.

The big steps of the recipe

The preparation of the salt crust

The salt crust is made with fine salt, flour, egg white and dried herbs (a rosemary choice, thyme, a mixture of Provence herbs or any other dried grass of your choice). Do not be afraid to be very generous, it perfectly perfumes the meat. By mixing everything, you will need to add a little water, I do not give you the exact quantity because it depends on the talle of your eggs and therefore a lot of white. Just note that you want a texture identical to a pie dough. Once finished, you can form a ball and set aside. This step can be done in advance.

The preparation of duck breasts

Only the duck breast meat is used, that is to say having completely removed the layer of fat. Then the duck breast passed to the pan very quickly, just to grab it 15 seconds on each side.

The finish of the salt crust

Then you spread the dough without stretching it too much, you want between ½ and 1 cm thick, arrange your duck breasts in the center and wrap them. You will notice in the photos that I golden browse with salt with egg yolk as it remained but I am not sure that it is necessary.

Oven cooking

Finally you cook for 10 minutes at 200 ° C. Then let stand 30 minutes at room temperature before opening the salt crust and cut the meat.

Note that then the meat can cool fairly quickly. Serve immediately. Small tip, put the serving dish in the hot oven, the duck breasts will cool slower.

With what support for?

I advise you to serve these duck duck breasts as a salt crust with a vegetable in sauce such as cream mushrooms because the meat thus cooked has no sauce or juice. You can also make a sauce of your choice. On the areas or orange for example. Here you will find a selection of accompaniments for your slightly festive meals.

Where does this recipe come from?

It’s a recipe that I have been cooking for a very long time. I know that at the time I had adapted it from a chief but I am absolutely unable to remember who. At the time I watched a lot of the program “Good appetite of course” by Joël Robuchon. It may come from there …

For duck lovers

For duck breast enthusiasts, I have several other recipes on the blog. For the duck breasts first. A marinated with a barbecue sauce taught during a culinary workshop by a best worker in France. And two others with a blackcurrant sauce and or the arelles.

And also a recipe also from a best worker from France met during another culinary workshop (the life of a culinary blogger is very rich!), The Roman butcher Leboeuf with his ultra simple orange can.