Cooking Duck Breasts: Tips and Techniques

[paul o' vendange]

Sequim, if you are out of Seattle, you may want to consider Grimaud Farms, out of Stockton, California (a bit closer). They specialize in Muscovy (the parent Company, Groupe Grimaud, has been doing Muscovy in Europe, since 1965, from what they say); I get my moulard magret, as well as some drop-dead extraordinarily flavorful guinea hen from them. The mail order unit is Joie de Vivre, at Joie de Vivre.

Just an option, I've no connection to them. The woman I dealt with on a wholesale basis was Cecile, very nice.

Happy hunting!

Paul

[robyn]

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.

I would probably buy fresh by mail order and freeze them myself (just because I like to keep track of stuff that's frozen). Note that anything like this has to be shipped overnight fedex - so I'm not sure it matters whether the merchant is close to you or far away (e.g., I order cheese directly from France - I don't see any reason to buy French cheese from a store in New York). I suspect there are a reasonable number of internet sellers who offer good duck breasts. Robyn

[carp]

I realize that smoked duck breast is a completely different product. But, I love making pizza with smoked duck breast, gruyere, and finely sliced shallots.

[sequim]

Sequim, if you are out of Seattle, you may want to consider Grimaud Farms, out of Stockton, California (a bit closer). They specialize in Muscovy (the parent Company, Groupe Grimaud, has been doing Muscovy in Europe, since 1965, from what they say); I get my moulard magret, as well as some drop-dead extraordinarily flavorful guinea hen from them. The mail order unit is Joie de Vivre, at Joie de Vivre.

Thank you Paul. They have some very yummy looking stuff!

[Gustatorian]

If I may add a different suggestion, last weekend I made this recipe for a group of friends:

http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails/recipe_4513.asp

This is a fairly easy recipe, and the results are excellent.

ETA that Food Network Canada's website is not mine.

Edited April 23, 2004 by Gustatorian (log)

[bakezoid]

Just picked up three magret duck breasts at Wegmans (great supermarket) and have a pretty good idea of how to cook them. can someone give me suggestions on saucing,accompaniements, etc. I don't want to waste these beauties.

[Ruth]

I would suggest a demi-glace wine reduction flavored with an acidic fruit. I like sour cherries but they would be difficult to find right now. Kumquats are available and a sauce with kumquats would would make a great complement to your magrets.

[fou de Bassan]

Lucky you!

Surprisingly, one of the best ways I've found is also one of the simplest ---with soy sauce and orange juice. I find wild rice studded with fruit to be a wonderful accompaniment to magret provided you're not cooking the magret with fruit. I also like magret with figs and a reduction of port.

Bon Appétit!

[derricks]

I would suggest a demi-glace wine reduction flavored with an acidic fruit. I like sour cherries but they would be difficult to find right now. Kumquats are available and a sauce with kumquats would would make a great complement to your magrets.

←

On a related theme, I've had good luck with reduced pomegranate juice. Nothing more than that, actually (though the juice was reduced 50-60%). Oranges are good as well. And I season, pan-sear, and roast until just rare (that's for Magret de Moulard; no one makes foie gras from Muscovies here in the U.S. anymore, so I've never found Magret de Barbarie).

[mrsadm]

I made this for Christmas and it was wonderful. The recipe is from Cordon Bleu

http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/restaurant/menu17/magrets.html

Magrets de Canard aux Poires

[TongoRad]

Ruth

I like sour cherries but they would be difficult to find right now

Out of season you can always take some dried cherries and soak them in some port, or cherry kijafa, or something along thoose lines and deglaze with the whole works. I just loooove to add a bit of fresh tarragon to something like that.

[sabg]

Lucky you!

Surprisingly, one of the best ways I've found is also one of the simplest ---with soy sauce and orange juice.    I find wild rice studded with fruit to be a wonderful accompaniment to magret provided you're not cooking the magret with fruit.  I also like magret with figs and a reduction of port.

Bon Appétit!

←

what ratio of orange to soy would you use?

[bakezoid]

Thanks to everyone who helped me. Here's the report: thyme-infused wildflower honey and a balsamic demi-glaze deglazing of the pan (adapted from Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook). I steamed broccoli and served it with a two-vinegar dressing, included plain white rice and the homemade sourdough challah I slid into the oven when I got home from the office tonight. We all loved it and now I am on the permanent lookout for these amazing duck breasts.

I hope you all get some soon!

Amy

[Mussina]

Blue Hill in NYC is well known for its butter poached duck breast. Does anyone know how this is prepared? Poached in Buerre monte? Cooked sous vide with butter in the vacuum pouch? How is it finished? Temps and time would be greatly appreciated!

[Mayur]

The recipe can be found in the New York Restaurant Cookbook, by Florence Fabricant (p.154). In brief, you take a magret de moulard, remove the skin and fat (use these for something else), season with salt and pepper, make a "variant" beurre blanc (reduce white wine, thyme and shallots in pan until almost dry, add cream and reduce by half, then incorporate cold butter bit by bit). Keep sauce at a bare simmer, add the duck breasts to the sauce (which should cover them) and cook for four minutes, then turn and cook for another four minutes, swirling the pan occasionally. Discard the sauce. Heat up a little demiglace with a little reduced red wine, slice the breast, and serve with that sauce around the duck. At Blue Hill, the duck is mounted on some farro (spelt grain; it's like bulgur wheat) which is boiled and then combined with onions cooked in butter, chicken stock, salt, pepper, and sugar.

You could easily do this via a sous vide preparation, but given the work required to make the beurre blanc and the short cooking time, it doesn't seem worth it; you'll spend more effort vacuum-sealing the duck than cooking it. I'm sure that a duck breast cooked sous vide at 160 degrees with butter, salt and pepper, and one or two thyme leaves would be excellent as well, but it would be a different preparation.

Edited November 19, 2005 by Mayur (log)

[jtcookie]

I took your butter poached magret suggestion to heart this weekend, and came up with a very acceptable version that used an all-butter "broth" for poaching.

Cook 250g salted butter with 3 or 4 sections of orange rind and 6 crushed cloves of garlic. Let the butter cook slowly until the moisture has evaporated and the solids are turning beige. Pour the butter off, straining out the aromatics, and return it to a pan. Reheat the fat to have it at a medium heat (sorry, no thermometer in my kitchen!) for the skin-free, fat-free breasts. I popped them into the butter which bubbled crisply around the meat, gave them 2 minutes on each side, and took them off the heat. I lidded the pan, and kept them warm for about 15 mins, while the sauce finished. Sauce was a simple OJ, butter, cream, beef essence and Grand Marnier number.

What was most appealing was that the breast meat was still pink, but much lighter in colour than our usual grilled med-rare breasts, and the fact that once off the heat, they do need to rest and gather up, but they stay nice and warm in the butter. These were not very heavy magret, so you would have to allow longer for mature birds.

Aforementioned butter is now the cooking milieu for the confit for next weekend's lunch!

John

[Mussina]

Thanks! What did you think of it visually when it was finished? Did you pan sear it or serve as is? Also, do you prefer it served as a whole breast or sliced? Did you let the breast rest before serving?

Thanks again.

Edited November 21, 2005 by Mussina (log)

[jtcookie]

^Visually it's not the greatest, as the breast is somewhat beige on the outside. I prefer to finely (about 8 cuts) angle slice the breast, and shingle it on one side of the plate. The sauce I used has very much the same colour, so I keep that off to the side of the meat. Sliced and shingled onto a warm plate, the rosiness of the medium rare meat is all the other colour you have to work with, so don't mask it with sauce. A couple of fresh orange segments and some flat-leaf parsley gussied the plate up sufficiently. We had a Pay d'Oc Syrah alongside; only to ameliorate the excess fats, of course!

The rest for the breast started once I took the pan off the heat; 15 minutes off to the side in a butter hot tub and you'd be relaxed too!!

John

[sadistick]

Just wanted to see how some of you like to prepare/season your duck breasts...be if searing them, smoking, braising...whatever!

I am planning on making Duck breasts tomorrow night for the GF, and wanted to hear some ideas/tried tested and true methods you guys prefer.

Also...I am a bit low on creative juices as I have had a hectic week so far, and I dont really want to make my typical potatoe galette or roasted garlic mash to go with it, so some ideas for sides for the duck breast would be appreciated as well!

Its funny, I had the wine in mind all week to go with the duck, but for some reason when it comes to food to pair...I am at a blank!

Oy.

[Taubear]

How about lightly coating them with 5 spice powder and searing them in a hot pan and then rest in a warm oven. Serve with white rice, bok choy with oyster sauce. Simple quick and tasty. Choose a nice reisling or chardonay to go with it if you like white or a decent pinot noir if your going for red.

[Shalmanese]

I score them, put them in non-stick pan over medium low heat and let the fat gently render out. As it is cooking, I continuously spoon the hot fat over the duck breast until the top is cooked and the inside is medium-rare. Perfect duck breasts, every time, without having to use the oven.

It pairs very well with leek & caraway seed.

[handmc]

I use the same method as Shalmanese, however before cooking I marinate them in a Ancho, honey and garlic. After cooking I like to slice it very thin.

I then serve on Mach or Spring mix tossed with a light dressing of olive oil, orange juice and champange vinegar, topped with with mandarin or blood orange slices, a few dots of goat cheese and a couple of turns of salt and pepper. A few chinese noodles or slivered toasted almonds for crunch.

[BonVivant]

I score them, put them in non-stick pan over medium low heat and let the fat gently render out. As it is cooking, I continuously spoon the hot fat over the duck breast until the top is cooked and the inside is medium-rare. Perfect duck breasts, every time, without having to use the oven.

It pairs very well with leek & caraway seed.

←

works every time for me too. succulent!

i like my magret de canard with a thick sauce of blackberries and such. and a dollop of creamiest mashed potato [with a hint of garlic] on the side. wash down with either a good pinot noir [my personal choice] or gewurtraminer. i eat this when the dark berries are plentyful.

OR even better, sliced and topped a shiitake risotto. a cold sake or two would go down beautifully. sometimes i even use duck breast in a savoury porridge, or with plenty of tangerines.

[Abra]

Well, what is the wine? That's sort of a key thing for the pairing of sides. Right now I'm in love with a puree of celery root and apple cooked in milk - would that go with your wine?

[chiantiglace]

I like to give them a good sear and cook them in the oven until med-rare. only S&P is necessary to duck for me, just because I absolutely love the taste of duck.

My two favorite sacues for duck would be a reduced red wine (Port or Chianti ) finished with a little demi glace. The other would be a citrus bigarade. In the red wine sauce I cook down the wine a little with sugar, jalapenos, and if I feel like it some sage at the end.