Sous Vide Duck Confit & Prague Powder #1

aaron.m.kent

Will sous vide duck confit benefit from prague powder #1 or another curing salt? Is that necessary?

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The fact that you are cooking sous vide is irrelevant. You are likely going to be cooking at traditional temperatures and times anyhow, as that produces the best result for confit. The advantage, however, is that you can use less fat. I typically cure my duck confit without prague power or pink salt.

brian_martin2001

You use curing salts for 1 of 2 reasons (or a combination of both).

1. You want to mimic a smoke ring, which is basically the same chemical process of getting the smoke ring in a smoker, just without the smoke and potential carcinogenic deposits on the meat.

2. You want to control specific types of bacterial growth from developing in sausages or fermented meats, like C. botulinum, which the sodium nitrate will have a negative effect on the bacteria (just 1 example).

So, unless you're trying to get a smoke ring going in your duck, or you suspect a serious risk of various Clostridium strains in your meat (which frankly, if you do, you need to find a new source of meat) there's really no point to doing it. The amount of actual nitrates or nitrites in the mixture is low enough where it wouldn't have much if any of an effect on the flavor, so for that, you're best sticking with regular salt.

Unless you've got something you haven't shared, I cannot honestly imagine why you'd want to use a curing salt with the exceptions of the 2 I listed, and even them, I'm not too sure about with duck confit.

wolfiegirl

Funny, but I just made duck legs confit that finished yesterday morning. It would never have occurred to me to even think about Prague powder as an ingredient. First step for the legs (big giant duck legs they are!) was salt and thyme, vac'd and fridged for about 8 hours. Then rinsed, dried and rebagged with duck fat and into the sv. Simple and oh so very very good. I'll save the curing salt for sausage and bacon and the like.