Garde Manger - Curing and Brining

What a great day in the kitchen. (And it wasn't the Vodka) We were hopping. Chef was back to his bubbly personality and we really started to dive in to prepping for our banquet. We were extremely productive today and I think Chef is starting to gain a little confidence in us that we might just pull this event off.
We began by cooking the pork that we will use for the rillettes. It needed to cook for a couple of hours so we started it first thing. We prepared a cure mix for the gravlax and a brine for the smoked duck. Most of the recipes we are working on now will take a few days to prepare.
When these tasks were done we had a demo on butchering a duck. It wasn't nearly as bad as the chicken massacre a few weeks ago, though I did stop at a market on the way home today and buy a whole duck. I needed to go through the process one more time to really get it to sink in. I still have a bit of trouble with producing and that darn airline breast.
Anyway, after getting our ducks in a row, we placed the pieces in the brining solution, or wet cure as it is sometimes referred to . We used the brine soaking method where the meat was completely submerged in a solution of salt, water, sugar, and herbs and seasonings. In addition to curing meats, brining also helps with flavor development and boosting moisture content.
With the duck safely soaking, where it will remain for the next 24 hours, we moved on to preparing a salmon for dry curing - which is what gravlax is.
We wrapped it in cheesecloth then covered it completely with the curing mixture. This was a combination of salt sugar black pepper and dill.
We laid it in a pan that had a little vodka and lemon juice in it then pressed another pan on top of it and tied it down so the salmon would press evenly into the curing mixture. This will stay overnight and we will turn it over first thing in the morning.
When the pork was cooked, we cooled and processed it, along with the reserved stock and spices until it was a smooth consistency. Where a confit is slowly cooked then stored in it's own rendered fat, rillettes are made by stewing boned meats in broth and fat with vegetables and aromatics. This mixture is typically stored in crocks or pots, covered with a layer of fat that acts as a seal, and served with bread or as a topping for canapes or a filling for profiteroles.
Finally, we made up a marinade for the reaming duck and left that to macerate overnight. Tomorrow we will slow cook it in rendered duck fat to produce some more duck confit.
Like I said, a very productive day.

Goodnight.