Cooking Duck Breasts: Tips and Techniques

[bushey]

I've gotten it into my head that duck breast would make a wonderful meal for an intimate New Year's Eve dinner. Now all I need is a good, foolproof** recipe. I remember seeing one in the NY Times food section last year, but now I can't find it.

**foolproof as in can still be followed after several glasses of champagne

[Jon Tseng]

I prefer roasting the breasts on the bone - fine that if you fry them off the bone a) much less control over the cooking - tends to get burnt outside before cooked whole way through b) off the bone the breasts tend to shrink to nothingness. plus having it in the over leaves the hob free for other stuff

Something along the lines of:

- Buy the quack whole

- Carve off the breasts on the breastbone in one slab (ie both breasts still together

- Do whatever you want to the skin to prepare it (dry, pierce, baste in honey &tc &tc

- Fry in hot pan skin side down until browned

- Put in over 190c 15 mins.* Rest and carve. If undercooked on the bone side zap skin side up to finish off. Serve in triumph (or make a run for the takeout menu if something went wrong along the way)

Legs can be confited at a later date (confit can be made into ravioli and served with). liver is great with scrambled eggs. bones make duck soup. fat makes confit or roast potatos

* Timings vary with size - best to do a practice one first to sort the timing and/or use meat themometer

cheerio

J

[Lesley C]

Is this a duck breast or magret (breast of a force-fed duck)?

For a boneless magret, lightly score the skin and fat in a crisscross pattern and sprinkle generously with sea salt (pepper is optional).

Place in a fry pan, skin side down over medium heat. Fry, untouched, for twenty minutes draining off the fat every so often and spooning a bit of fat over the breast.

After twenty minutes (the breast should be a deep golden brown and almost all the fat should be rendered), salt it and turn it over. Place another fry pan on top to weigh it down (you might want to place a weight on top) and fry on the other side for another 5 minutes. Remove from pan, cover lightly with foil, and let the breast rest for about 15-20 minutes (this step is essential, otherwise you'll lose all the juices). Slice diagonally to serve.

For a duck breast, you'll want to fry it for about 15 minutes on the first side.

[g.johnson]

20 minutes will give you well done, no? I never time it when I sear them but I'd guess 10 minutes or less on the skin side and <5 on the other.

[bushey]

Lesley, I believe it's magret I have in mind.

Thanks for the recipe and instructions!

[Bux]

No foolproof recipe from me, but Lesley has the basic procedure down. It's important not to have a high heat on the skin side and to have scored the skin and layer of fat so that most of the fat melts off into the pan. I like a crisp skin and a little bit of fat on the final presentation. You may need to start the skin side on low heat and raise it at the end to crisp the skin. I probably cook it on the other side for a minute or two, but I like a very rare interior. I have never weighed the breast down and wonder why Lesley does that. I want it rare in the middle and I wouldn't place a weight on a steak.

If you're lucky and you haven't burnt anything in the pan, you'll want to deglaze the pan with some madeira, port or other wine or essence and if you're well prepared finish it off with some duck or veal "jus." In a pinch even a good brand of canned chicken broth will do. Low salt will allow you to boil it down and concetrate the flavor.

[Coop]

Here is a method for cooking I learned from watching Rob Feenie on TV. Score skin, salt and pepper, then sautee skin side down for 5 minutes removing excess rendered fat many times. Put in 450 degree oven for ten minutes, keep pouring off rendered fat. Rest and carve. What could be simpler for a liquor fueled new years celebration. Also sautee blanched vegetables in the rendered fat. For a sauce why not try a flavoured vinagrette. Can be flavoured with orange, raspberry, fig etc. This is much more drunk friendly than a reduction or gastric.

I agree that roasting the bird on the carcass is a great alternative too but for sober enthusiast only. Why not try a duck press for the sauce like they do at La Tour d'Argent in Paris!

[Jinmyo]

Duck breast is pretty hard to foul up except by overcooking.

Don't forget to save the rendered fat.

[Lesley C]

Trust me on this one.

This recipe comes from a wonderful little traiteur in the 15th arrondissement in Paris on the rue Grenelle called La Campagne (alas, recently replaced by a Chinese take-out place). Magrets are quite large so they really do take 20 minutes skin-side down on medium heat. Just be sure to start timing the minute the breast is placed in the room temperature pan, not the minute it starts sizzling. Even with these times, we sometimes find the meat too rare for a large breast. The reason I weigh down the magret is because it tends to curl slightly on side two. With a bit of weight, you get a lovely straight magret, cooked envenly medium saignant from end to end.

Try it, you'll like it!

I also like deglazing with griottes.

PS: I don't think the Feenie method renders enough fat. I HATE fatty magret!

[Jinmyo]

Lesley, I've never tried this but it makes sense. As long as the skin becomes almost like bacon, I'm happy.

[bushey]

Reporting back on our New Year's Eve magret: phenomenal .

Thanks to everyone for sharing recipes and advice -- it was surprisingly easy to make and completely delicious. I picked up a couple of D'Artagnan breasts and prepared them at home by scoring the skin and fat deeply and sprinkling with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. At our friend's house I cooked them, skin side down over medium low heat and spooned off the fat quite frequently, occasionally basting the meaty side. When they were brown and crispy I flipped them over and let the meaty side cook for about 5 additional minutes.

Then I covered the breasts in foil and let rest while I deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of orange juice. Threw in a cup of frozen red raspberries and let the sauce cook down for a few minutes, added a knob of butter and then strained it.

My better half sliced the breasts on the diagonal and we served the sauce on the side. Actually, the duck was so delicious the sauce was superfluous.

[CooksQuest]

Don't forget "Cooking with the [New York] Times" for a great duck recipe.

With a high-speed connection, you can easily watch an instructor from the French Culinary Institute go from prep to plate...

[Sandra Levine]

20 minutes will give you well done, no? I never time it when I sear them but I'd guess 10 minutes or less on the skin side and <5 on the other.

I used Lesley C's timing for a 1.2 lb. magret and it needed a minute or two more on the second side for acceptable doneness. For a smaller piece of meat, less time, of course.

Thanks, Lesley. We had a delicious dinner.

[Lesley C]

My pleasure Sandra

Magret is just the best when all the fat is rendered and the skin is super crisp. And it's so true, the larger magrets could sometimes use a little more cooking (finishing it off for a few minutes in a low oven is good for this).

Whenever I'm at a restaurant and am served fatty duck, I'm tempted to write out this recipe and slip it to the waiter.

[Sandra Levine]

Almost the best part is the cup of rendered duck fat!

[cabingirl]

As a reforming vegetarian, I've never cooked nor eaten duck - but I've been itching to do both. My friend ordered it last night at an highly recommended French Bistro - it was done with a preserved lemon sauce. I tried it.

So the legs were what I expected - very moist and full of flavor, with crispy skin. Excellent.

But the breast was not. I don't know if it's the nature of the beast, or if it was the quality of the meat or the way it was cooked, but it was very tough. They recommended it medium rare, and honestly it was almost like it was too rare, because it had a similar texture to raw/rare beef, but chewier. And I know duck is a very fatty bird, but is the fat mostly on the skin? The breast almost seemed fatty - the way it chewed. But I can't imagine duck meat having fat in it like beef.

And I ordered tuna medium rare, and it was definitely medium when it came, if that adds any insight.

I'm also a little confused about being able to order duck at a certain temperature. Is that because it's game?

Thanks so much!

Ginny

[Robin Meredith]

I can be a bit of a bloody carnivore, but duck is one of those things (along with lamb and veal) that I think work better if cooked a bit closer to medium rare - at least until some grain starts to emerge in the meat. Undercooked duck breast has kind of a gummy, unappealing texture, IMHO.

Duck is also something I tend to avoid in restaurants - probably the result of many cumulative disappointments over the years. If you're curious about how it should taste:

*buy a package of boneless duck breasts;

*score the skin in a diamond cross-hatch pattern with a sharp knife (I like to make quite a few cuts - maybe about 1/2" between each parallel cut) - this will help the fat render out of the skin (just try not to cut down into the meat);

*Saute them over moderate heat (not too high!) starting skin side down. They should cook for quite a while on the skin (8 to 10 minutes?) and a much shorter period after you flip them (only about two to three minutes). You want the skin side to be nice and brown;

*Let them rest a bit (3 to 5 minutes under some foil) and serve - I prefer to serve them whole, but restaurants seem to have a compulsive need to slice them.

Not sure why it's OK to cook them rare, but they are yummy that way!

Have fun.

Edited March 17, 2003 by Robin Meredith (log)

[mogsob]

*Saute them over moderate heat (not too high!) starting skin side down.  They should cook for quite a while on the skin (8 to 10 minutes?) and a much shorter period after you flip them (only about two to three minutes).  You want the skin side to be nice and brown;

Robin, I cannot agree with you more, especially on this point. Cooking duck is a bit difficult because of the fat content -- you need to have the heat high enough to render the fat and crisp the skin, but low enough to avoid overcooking the meat or burning the skin.

I find that the best way to do this is by sound. The best temp is the highest possible sizzle, without the fat "popping." If the pan gets to hot, you can raise it off the heat and saute a bit until it cools down and adjust the heat accordingly.

[britcook]

A slight difference in approach from me. Make the cuts in the fat about 2 -3 mm apart (about the depth of a pound coin), then heat 1 taplespoon of oil in a very hot skillet/ frying pan until smoking hot then cook two minutes each side (fat side first). Place these in an oven pre-heated to maximum (240 C/ 475 F) on a rack, fat side up, over a pan to catch the drippings, for 8 minutes. Remove and cover (or wrap loosely) with foil for at least 15 minutes. Slice to your liking and server with your choice of sauce which you can make while the breasts are resting. Not for the timid as it tends to generate clouds of smoke, but the duck is always succulent.

[cabingirl]

I did, thanks Jon! AND. Well, it doesn't seem like fresh duck breast is something my local butcher carries - in fact, he said chances were "slim to none" that I could find it here, in SE PA. BUT. There was a very nice frozen breast in the case. It was a muscovy duck, and it was $50 - the brand name is something like "D'Arg..." - I've seen the brand, but the spelling is eluding me.

SO. No duck for $50. Chicken.

My butcher will order it - I'll have to find out the price per lb. - the frozen duck was $19 per pound. Wow.

Ginny

[cabingirl]

I WISH I was kidding. I was floored. And the brand name was D'Artagnan's. The breast is on their site:

https://www.dartagnan.com/item.asp?item=FDUMU109

For $20 cheaper than at my butchers.

I'm sorry if I'm being unclear - and I'm not joking. I thought it would be easier to find - I guess l'll have to order it, but from somewhere else. I wonder if Whole Foods carries it.

Ginny

[tommy]

whole foods carries d'artagnan products. at least in NJ. the mark-up is only slight.

[Jinmyo]

That's an atrocious markup. Your butcher is a very bad man.

[FoodMan]

Jin is absolutely right, $$$19 per pound for a frozen duck. I buy it (the whole duck) for no more than $2.50 per pound and just butcher it myself. You get the thighs, legs (confit), breasts, liver and the much coveted FAT. Try online at mapleleaffarms.com, it might be cheaper.

FM

[cbel964]

i have a small duck breast that i would like to cook (and soon) but have no idea how to, what to, or anything!!!