Cooking Duck Breasts: Tips and Techniques

[pastramionrye]

I'm a skin person myself (I will slave over a chicken or turkey to get that perfect crisp skin). Can you actually render out the fat from the skin side while not overdoing the meat (I think that's how I got totally messed up last time - while trying to get that crispy skin - I wound up with stringy overdone breast meat). Robyn

by adding the spice mixture to the breast (especially the salt) and allowing the breast to air dry uncovered in the refridgerator overnight, you will achive the perfect duck skin. i am sure you can get it by cooking it in a pan, but the results from grilling it on low heat, and rotating it often are unbelievable. not to mention the spice mixture gives wonderful flavor.

the skin will not blacken (unless your grill flames up while unattended) and the meat will not be overdone.

[PCL]

robyn Posted on Feb 22 2004, 07:49 PM

What's "bashed" ginger? And how do you "whack the breast skin up on the rack"? Sounds very Jamie Oliver - fighting with your food  . Robyn

ARRGGHHH!!!!!.... he may be a humanitarian, and a "pukka" lad and all that, but us Aussies, have been using adjectives like "whack" a looooooong time before JO turned up... now that I've emptied my bucket and wiped my mouth, I can genially explain that I meant to use "whack" simply to denote an enthusiastic approach to the placement of the beloved duck part on the rack in anticipation of cooking it to relative perfection... you can either see it as either enthusiasm or affection..

...and as for the ginger, it means just that, a good sized wedge of ginger about an inch long, bashed, smacked, flattened by the side of one's knife... and I forgot to add in me earlier post, to "bung" in a couple cloves into the marinade as well... makes it all so much more yummy and tasty...

[DRColby]

I had a thought along the line of smoking.  I bought these cedar plank things from Williams Sonoma last year.  Use them basically for fish - especially salmon - on the BBQ (you soak them in water - and when they heat up - they emit smoke).  Now I know you wouldn't cook a duck from scratch on them (too much fat).  But do you think they might work in terms of "smoking" the duck if you rendered off a lot of the fat first in a pan?  Note that this certainly wouldn't be the first recipe I'd try - or even the 3rd - but it might be an interesting approach for people who don't own smokers - but would like to "smoke" duck.  Robyn 

Get yourself a Cameron's stove-top or oven smoker which you can use in your kitchen. I think they are about $60 and a very useful pan. It's sealed so it doesn't come close to a broiler for smellingor cluding up the kitchen. Besides smoking on the stove you can use the bottom for a roasting pan, etc.

I have a regular smoker, but when short on time or want to do small items I use the Cameron. It's great with fish that have been brined and aired or with meats with fresh herbs.

dave

[bleachboy]

I'm a skin person myself (I will slave over a chicken or turkey to get that perfect crisp skin). Can you actually render out the fat from the skin side while not overdoing the meat (I think that's how I got totally messed up last time - while trying to get that crispy skin - I wound up with stringy overdone breast meat). Robyn

I use the Alton Brown method. Score the breasts through the skin but not the flesh (as mentioned many times before in this thread) then _steam_ it with the lid weighted down -- Alton says 45 minutes, I say about 15-20 minutes. Then heat up an iron skillet in the oven at 475 F until it's mad hot, then drop the breasts in skin side down to sear for about 7 minutes.

The fat mostly renders out during the steaming process, and you reduce the water in the steam pot until it's nothing but delicious duck fat which you can save for later use.

His suggestion to use the fat and residual heat left in the skillet after searing is also excellent. Try chard, spinach, mushrooms, etc.

[Jinmyo]

To do a temp conversion from C to F - multiply by 9 - divide by 5 - and add 32. Which would give us 356 F (or about 350).

Um. Carry the nought, turn left, raise right foot twice.

7867888765556775454 kelvin.

Sounds about right.

Wait.

I forgot to do the hand thing.

Is that up or down?

[poutine]

Prior to seeing this thread I bought some beautiful Lac Brome duck breasts from the local market (approx 1 pound each) and followed a very fine (and simple!) recipe my dear friend in Whistler got from her butcher in Granville Market in Vancouver for Duck with Fruity Blueberry sauce.

After trimming the excess fat off the breast and then scoring the fat and seasoning with salt & lots of pepper, I placed the breasts in a very very hot dry pan to sear and then I immediately lowered the heat. The rendered fat had to be discarded a few times but after about 15-20 minutes on low heat, 95% of the fat was gone and the breast was a lovely bronzed color. Flipping the breast over and searing the meat side for about 3-5 minutes left the duck a perfect medium rare. Let duck rest for about 5 minutes before cutting in thin slices.

At the same time, I made a fruit sauce by combining and carmelizing 1/4 cup sugar with 2 T water until deep amber, adding 2.5 T of balsamic (it will bubble up considerably), 1.5 cups chicken broth - allow sauce to reduce to about 1 cup, remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup mixed dry fruit cut into matchsticks and 1 T minced ginger.

Prior to serving, rewarm sauce over low heat, whisk in 2 T chilled butter cut into small pieces, add 3/4 cup blueberries, season with salt and pepper.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

[robyn]

My advice is to err on the side of undercooked greasy duck skin and discard it rather than risk overcooking the meat...

I've never marinated a duck breast, but I've wondered about brining it before hand.

My husband will throw away the skin even if it's perfect (he's not a skin eater). So I will heed your advice.

As for brining - it's something I don't do. My husband has high blood pressure - so I try to do relatively low salt cooking at home. Compensates for the mega-doses of salt we get in restaurants (had a very nice meal out last night - but each of us had 2 extra pounds in water weight this morning). Robyn

[robyn]

robyn Posted on Feb 22 2004, 07:49 PM

What's "bashed" ginger? And how do you "whack the breast skin up on the rack"? Sounds very Jamie Oliver - fighting with your food  . Robyn

ARRGGHHH!!!!!.... he may be a humanitarian, and a "pukka" lad and all that, but us Aussies, have been using adjectives like "whack" a looooooong time before JO turned up... now that I've emptied my bucket and wiped my mouth, I can genially explain that I meant to use "whack" simply to denote an enthusiastic approach to the placement of the beloved duck part on the rack in anticipation of cooking it to relative perfection... you can either see it as either enthusiasm or affection..

...and as for the ginger, it means just that, a good sized wedge of ginger about an inch long, bashed, smacked, flattened by the side of one's knife... and I forgot to add in me earlier post, to "bung" in a couple cloves into the marinade as well... makes it all so much more yummy and tasty...

Got it . Note that I use a small hammer to "bash" things (it's hard for a weakling like me to bash things with the side of a knife). Robyn

[robyn]

Get yourself a Cameron's stove-top or oven smoker which you can use in your kitchen.  I think they are about $60 and a very useful pan.  It's sealed so  it doesn't come close to a broiler for smellingor cluding up the kitchen.  Besides smoking on the stove you can use the bottom for a roasting pan, etc.

  I have a regular smoker, but when short on time or want to do small items I use the Cameron.  It's great with fish that have been brined and aired  or with meats with fresh herbs.

dave

I've seen those things before. Never knew whether they worked. Now I know. What else do you use it for? Robyn

[robyn]

To do a temp conversion from C to F - multiply by 9 - divide by 5 - and add 32.  Which would give us 356 F (or about 350).

Um. Carry the nought, turn left, raise right foot twice.

7867888765556775454 kelvin.

Sounds about right.

Wait.

I forgot to do the hand thing.

Is that up or down?

Actually - all I do is ask my husband. We have a strict division of labor around the house - and it's his job to do metric conversions. And windows. That's why I keep him around . Robyn

[robyn]

Sometimes it takes me a while...

But I made the duck breast last night. I followed a combination of suggestions. What I found was that when I was trying to render the fat with the skin side down on medium heat - the breast was cooking too fast compared to how much fat was being rendered off. So I turned up the heat. Got more fat off - but wound up with slightly charred fat on top. I finished off the breast in the oven at 350. This was a fairly large D'Artagnan breast (about a pound). The ends were done long before the middle. So I sliced off the pieces on the ends - and put the middle back into the oven for some additional time to get it up to speed.

The protracted cooking wasn't a problem for the particular recipe I was using. A duck breast salad (duck breast sliced thinly and fanned on plate around lightly dressed mesclun and toasted walnuts) with cheese toasts and a port-currant sauce. It's supposed to be a Charlie Trotter recipe (I don't know - I cut it out of a magazine and it's been in my recipe box for years). And the duck really turned out great. Rare not raw. Very tasty. Even the little bit of char on the fat tasted good .

I guess if I were serving part of a duck breast in a whole piece (and I wouldn't be serving a pound to each person - more like a half or a third of a pound) - it would make sense to cut such a large breast in half or thirds *before* cooking to avoid the problem of the well done ends and the raw middle. Does that make sense? Any other ideas?

By the way - thanks for all the help. My husband won't make me wait another 20 years to cook duck. I'm going to try the same recipe again tomorrow night - since I have a lot of extra port-currant sauce (that sauce took a whole bottle of port! - but it was delicious) and another breast in the freezer. Robyn

[paul o' vendange]

Sounds like you were using a magret, off the Moulard duck. Did you score it? Whatever type of duck breast I use (Muscovy, Pekin, Moulard), I score generously - about 20 each way, maybe 1/8" apart, in hatching 45 deg. Serves me well, watch my flame, try to get a nice brown skin in 10-12 minutes, then light "kiss" searing on the other side for a medium rare. Scoring like this should allow a more ready rendering...with the magret, fat comes pouring off in buckets, immediately.

With the magret, I score like this first then cut the lobe in half, so each serving is roughly 8 oz. Then cook according to the above, tent and rest, and serve.

Your port-currant sauce sounds great - tell me a bit about it?

Paul

[Ruth]

Paul has said it all. I make a red wine demi glace reduction and then add either cassis ,red currants or sour cherries. Whatever you do, do not discard the rendered fat. Almost anything you sauter- especially potatoes - tastes better when sautéed in duck fat than butter or oil. It will keep a very long time in your 'fridge and virtually forever in the freezer.

Edited April 18, 2004 by Ruth (log)

[markk]

I cook a duck breast dinner (Moulard Magret, from D'Artagnan) once a week,

and I'm happy to share my photos and techniques with you...

I score the breasts, as noted, careful to cut through the fat but not the surface of the meat. Then I turn them fat-side down on the cutting board, and with a very sharp paring knife, I trim out the vein of silver-skin that's visible - if you don't know what this is, it's a thread in the meat that looks silver - this will tense and toughen the meat when it cooks, and is easy enough to master that the second time you do it, you'll be an expert.

Then I salt and pepper the breasts, and put them skin side down in a fairly hot heavy skillet.

The cooking times depend on the size of the breast - bear in mind that the D'Artagnan breasts that say "Product of Canada" in the little circle are generally smaller than the ones that have "USA" stamped on them, so a difference of a minute or two is necessary. As you can see from my photos, I like the duck nice an rare.

I've also found that resting is crucial to the success of the cooking, and my own method is included here. I cook the breasts fat side down in the fairly hot pan for 7-8 minutes for the US breast, 5 or 6 for the Canadian. Sometimes, depending on the heat of the pan, the breasts cook what seems to be a little too fast and get really dark brown - this is fine. I've never had one burn, and the very dark brown just adds a delicious flavor. I do not remove any of the fat at all. After the 6-8 minutes, I flip them. To sear in the juices, I tilt the pan and slide the breasts to the edge so that one side, then the other, is submerged temporarily in the fat, and I move them around to make sure that all the edges are crisped, then I let them finish out their 4 minutes on that side. If you're good at touching the meat and gauging the doneness, what you're looking for is "extremely" rare, but crisp on the outside - during the resting period they'll cook through to a beautiful rosy rare, I promise.

To me the most important step is this: I take a very heavy, high sided small roasting pan (I have the Williams Sonoma one that's black inside), and I put it, empty, to heat up in a 325 oven about ten minutes before I start cooking. When I actually put the breasts in the skillet, I turn off the oven with the roasting pan. Then, when the second side of the duck has cooked, I transfer them to the hot roasting pan; if the oven seems hotter than "resting" temperature, I crack the oven door a little. The thing here is that I give the breasts a good fifteen-minute rest, and if I have undercooked the breasts, they even out to a beautiful "rare" during the resting process.

After a real fifteen minute rest, I slice them on the angle, and spoon the accumulated juices and duck fat from the pan over them. and top them with a teeny bit of salt.

I've made sauces based on duck and veal stock, but find that when they're crisped just right, the sauce is unnecessary. I do like something slightly sweet to accompany them, and so I make a salad dressing that contains aged sherry vinegar, and a horseradish-containing mustard, but also a little bit of orange juice and a hint of apricot jam - the balance can be very exciting, and to my taste just perfect with the duck. I also garnish with some fruits like red grapefruit or mango sometimes.

Many examples of how I serve this, and how the duck breast comes out with these cooking times can be found here:

Markk's many magret photos

Hope this helps, and hope you enjoy. Do remember that the original study on which "The French Paradox" reporting was based in November 1991 concluded that it was the mono-unsaturated nature of the duck (and goose fat) that people in the southwest of France were eating that was lowering their rate of heart disease. In the original European release of the study by Serge Renaud, wine was not considered a factor, for the reason that all European countries consume liberal amounts of wine, yet it was the people in the southwest of France that had the low rates of heart disease. Only "60 Minutes" played up the red wine angle. The New York Times front page coverage of that story stressed that duck and "foie gras" might be the next miracle foods. Enjoy !!!

Edited April 18, 2004 by markk (log)

[Jake]

Great pictures, mark. I think I know what I'll be making for dinner tonight.

[robyn]

Sounds like you were using a magret, off the Moulard duck.  Did you score it?  Whatever type of duck breast I use (Muscovy, Pekin, Moulard), I score generously - about 20 each way, maybe 1/8" apart, in hatching 45 deg.  Serves me well, watch my flame, try to get a nice brown skin in 10-12 minutes, then light "kiss" searing on the other side for a medium rare.  Scoring like this should allow a more ready rendering...with the magret, fat comes pouring off in buckets, immediately.

With the magret, I score like this first then cut the lobe in half, so each serving is roughly 8 oz.  Then cook according to the above, tent and rest, and serve.

Your port-currant sauce sounds great - tell me a bit about it? 

Paul

It was a magret - and I did score it - but not as close as 1/8" apart for the scores. Tonight I'll cut the breast in half - do the closer scoring - and see what happens.

The sauce is very easy. Take 2 tbps. vegetable oil (I used canola) and saute 1 medium chopped onion and 1 medium granny smith apple - unpeeled, cored and chopped - and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Until onion is golden - not brown.

Add 1 bottle of ruby port. There were only 2 kinds of ruby port in my local liquor store (lots of tawny ports - but only 2 ruby) - and I used Grahams (not vintage or anything - just the $12 bottle - 10% off on geezer wine day ).

Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until mixture is reduced to 2 cups - about 30 minutes.

Strain the mixture (I used a spoon to mush the solids in the strainer to get out the juices) - return the liquid to the saucepan and discard the solids.

Add 1 cup chicken stock and simmer. The recipe said to simmer until the liquid is reduced to 3/4 cup - about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of simmer - I had much more than 3/4 cup - and it wasn't saucy - so I simmered for 5 minutes more. It was somewhat saucy then so I stopped. I will simmer my leftover sauce more tonight and see what happens. Whether it's better or worse.

Add 1/3 cup dried currants (I've never cooked with currants before - I used the grocery store Sunmaid and they were pretty good).

That's it. I liked the sauce. I think it would go well with other dark meat game birds - foie gras - stuff like that. Sweet - but not too sweet. Robyn

[robyn]

Paul has said it all. I make a red wine demi glace reduction and then add either cassis ,red currants or sour cherries. Whatever you do, do not discard the rendered fat. Almost anything you sauter- especially potatoes - tastes better when sautéed in duck fat than butter or oil. It will keep a very long time in your 'fridge and virtually forever in the freezer.

Thanks for the tip about saving the fat. I've never cooked with duck fat before. Robyn

[robyn]

I cook a duck breast dinner (Moulard Magret, from D'Artagnan) once a week,

and I'm happy to share my photos and techniques with you...

This was beautiful. Thank you.

When I cooked the first breast - I kept pouring off the fat while I was cooking. I wonder if that made the fat burn instead of brown. I will try leaving the fat in the pan tonight while I'm rendering and see what happens.

By the way - for those people who have less time or energy to cook than you do (I spent 5 hours gardening today and will be lucky if I don't fall asleep face down in the duck fat ) - they can do something like your salad with some romaine or spring mix - drained Del Monte red grapefruit sections from a jar - toasted walnuts or pine nuts - and Brianna's blush wine vinaigrette dressing. I will have to try your recipe (which I'm sure is a lot better) one night when I am full of energy! Robyn

[robyn]

Sounds like you were using a magret, off the Moulard duck.  Did you score it?  Whatever type of duck breast I use (Muscovy, Pekin, Moulard), I score generously - about 20 each way, maybe 1/8" apart, in hatching 45 deg.  Serves me well, watch my flame, try to get a nice brown skin in 10-12 minutes, then light "kiss" searing on the other side for a medium rare.  Scoring like this should allow a more ready rendering...with the magret, fat comes pouring off in buckets, immediately.

With the magret, I score like this first then cut the lobe in half, so each serving is roughly 8 oz.  Then cook according to the above, tent and rest, and serve.

Your port-currant sauce sounds great - tell me a bit about it? 

Paul

I made the second duck breast last night (fell asleep before I got close to the kitchen Sunday). Followed your suggestions - lots more scores and cut the breast in half. The fat did pour off (tons of it) - and the pieces wound up much more evenly cooked (not medium on the ends - almost raw on the inside). Much better result than my first try.

Note that the port sauce thickened up a bit second time around. Didn't really make a difference though. It was excellent both nights. Robyn

[bleachboy]

Thanks for the tip about saving the fat. I've never cooked with duck fat before. Robyn

Always save it, yo. Duck fat is the fat of the gods.

[paul o' vendange]

Great, Robin, glad it worked out. Credit goes to James Peterson (and a host of others - I am about 80% thief, 20% improvisateur), not me.

The only thing I would add, purely personal preference, but if I am using fat off a pan-sear/roast/saute, I only use the first few minutes worth of fat. After that, by my taste the fat is heated up quite a bit, changes chemical composition, and gains a bit of burnt flavor. It is for this reason, too, that I always pour off the fat, right from the start - reserving the first few minutes worth, sadly, tossing the rest. If I want fat in volume, I render off the skin (which I save, religiously) and trim from the carcass.

Thanks for the Port sauce idea. I do a red wine reduction on that par (whole bottle down to a glaze), have never done that much port. Just about all the animals I cook and eat go, in toto, into the plate - a demi-glace fashioned from the duck bones, in this instance, and my cassis sauce is usually a "standard" ratio of 1/4 c or so of cassis, with the duck demi glace, reduced back to demi-glace consistency. But will do the full bottle-reduction on the port. Thanks.

Paul

[markk]

Score the breasts through the skin but not the flesh (as mentioned many times before in this thread) then _steam_ it with the lid weighted down -- Alton says 45 minutes, I say about 15-20 minutes.

Surely that cannot be correct for a duck breast - it weighs about a pound at most, and it cooks in a pan in twelve minutes - there's no way you can steam one for even 20 minutes. That's got to be the beginning of a recpie for a whole duck, surely.

[sequim]

This has been a great topic, thanks for bringing it up and following it through (first and second try, Robyn) and also thanks for the beautiful pics Mark.

I haven't done duck before but this has definitely inspired me to go for it.

[robyn]

This has been a great topic, thanks for bringing it up and following it through (first and second try, Robyn) and also thanks for the beautiful pics Mark. 

I haven't done duck before but this has definitely inspired me to go for it.

You're welcome. However *I* have to thank the D'Artagnan company. I'm sure people in large sophisticated cities have always had access to duck breasts - but D'Artagnan has brought them to smaller places (like where I live). And - if you can't find their products where you live - you can always order off their website. I have dealt with the company before - and found that the website service was very good.

By the way - I froze these breasts in their original plastic packaging (since they're not always available where I live) and defrosted them about 2 months later with no problem. Robyn

[sequim]

By the way - I froze these breasts in their original plastic packaging (since they're not always available where I live) and defrosted them about 2 months later with no problem. Robyn

That's good to know because even here in Seattle, I went looking for duck breasts and could only find frozen. Same with rabbit. I was wondering how it would be, and so passed on buying it.