If you’d like to try making your own charcuterie, this recipe shows how to cure and smoke duck breast for duck bacon or pancetta. This is a good make-ahead food, because both the curing and the smoking take several hours, and then you’ll have to cook the pancetta to serve it. Use it in any dishes you would use pork pancetta in.
2 or 3 duck breasts
For brine
2 cups water
1 cup coffee
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup kosher salt
1 tbsp Cure #1
Bradley Bisquettes – Maple
- Combine together ingredients for brine in a pot.
- Heat over medium heat and stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Let the brine cool to room temperature.
- Submerge duck breasts in brine and place in fridge for 8 hours.
- Remove duck breasts from brine, rinse well and pat dry.
- Cold smoke breasts for 5-6 hours with maple bisquettes. Remember it will not be cooked at this point!
- Wrap cold-smoked duck breasts (now duck pancetta/bacon) in plastic wrap until ready to use
- Slice and fry/bake duck pancetta before serving.
