cooking duck

[philosophe]

I bought some duck breasts today with idea of pan roasting them, then deglazing the pan with some tawny port and throwing in some Lucques olives for a sauce. What is your favorite way to prepare duck breasts?

 

[Kent Wang]

Confit.

 

[Alter]

I once made duck breasts with a very rich sauce that used port, espresso and prune juice. It was much better than that sounds. I could probably dig up the recipe if interested.

 

[Edward Appleby]

I really do like a sweeter sauce with duck. Orange is of course classic, but other fruits can be nice too. Depending on the port you use, philosophe, that sauce sounds like it might be a bit salty, at least for my taste.

 

[mbc]

I've done pan seared with a balsamic vinegar & cherry reduction that turned out pretty well.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

Confit.
Confit of breasts is just wrong.

 

[pejsek]

If you have a nice fairly lean magret, I would stick to searing them in a pan over high heat. Here in California we mostly get Muscovy Duck breast which is lean and flavorful. One of my very favorite dishes is duck breast with sour cherries. It's very simple. Take the breasts and give both sides a nice sprinkling of cracked pepper. Leave them to warm up to room temperature while you start on the sauce by soaking half a cup or so of dried sour cherries in red wine or port. Before you start cooking also finely mince a shallot or two. Take a heavy saute pan and basically heat it up as hot as you can (unless you're cooking on a professional stove in which case some restraint would be called for). Put in a little butter and then place the breasts in the pan starting with the skin side down. Cook them to the desired doneness--I prefer them fairly rare like a nice steak. When they are done remove them to a platter to rest, turn down the heat and saute the shallot for a minute before adding the cherries and wine. Cook until reduced a bit, slice the breasts and pour the sauce over. I like to serve this with mashed potatoes, green beans, and a nice first growth burgundy.
And I agree. With confit much better to stick to legs.

 

[Kent Wang]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Confit of breasts is just wrong.
I confit everything. Breast, gizzards, quail, you name it.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

I confit everything. Breast, gizzards, quail, you name it.
Well, you certainly CAN confit anything that you want. I believee that to cook something correctly you must try to use the method that brings out the best characteristics of that particular meat. Some meats are tender when cooked until pink, and some are not. Those that can be eaten pink should be as they retain more of thier natural flavors and nutrients that way. Duck breast is a prime example. Think about making a lamb stew. You would not use rack of lamb because the meat would become dry and stringy when cooked for a long time and there is not enough flavor in the rack to add much to the sauce. It is a meat to be cooked rare. On the other hand, a lamb shank will be extremely tough if seared over higher heat and eaten rare. It has a lot of flavor and needs to be cooked for a long time. For these reasons it is better to cook in in a stew. In my experience, confit of duck breasts leads to a slightly stringy, not all that tasty meat. Confit of duck legs is sublime. I am not much of a gizzard freak, but people in the area in which my mother lives in France seem to eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner. Go figure.

 

[horton]

two recipes that I like:

1. Thomas Keller: skinless, vacuum packed cooked at low temp (there's name for this technical style of cooking in which all juices expressed during cooking end up re-absorbed. his recipe is served with morels and great creamed corn. This is really a spring time dish when morels are fresh but you can use this method with many substitutes.

2. Jasper White: laquered duck (meat skin subjected to a honey-based marinade).

I agree with Matt. Confit is meant for legs, not breasts

 

[Kent Wang]

Yes, nothing quite ages in a confit like duck leg. Nevertheless, I do disagree with your assessment of duck breast confit -- I think it is a terrific and unique preparation.

Griling over high heat, served rare is another favorite.

 

[Liberty Ship]

Originally Posted by philosophe

I bought some duck breasts today with idea of pan roasting them, then deglazing the pan with some tawny port and throwing in some Lucques olives for a sauce. What is your favorite way to prepare duck breasts?

Funny you should ask. Just tonight, I made duck magrite my favorite way. I skin the breasts. I marinate them in an equal mixture of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and maple syrup.

I get some maple planks and soak them in water for an hour.

Then I heat up my grill and heat the planks. After they are hot, I put the duck breasts on them and cook until done.

I serve them with wild rice and a savory blackberry or blue berry sauce with sage.

Ta-da!

 

[tattersall]

Originally Posted by horton

1. Thomas Keller: skinless, vacuum packed cooked at low temp (there's name for this technical style of cooking in which all juices expressed during cooking end up re-absorbed.

"Sous-vide" and generally not practical for the home cook.

Originally Posted by horton

I agree with Matt. Confit is meant for legs, not breasts.

True, that.

For duck breasts I score the skin and season with salt, pan-fry skin side down until nicely seared, flip them over and pop them into a 400 oven until medium rare. Slice on the bias and serve with de-fatted pan juices. I'm not a fan of sweet sauces with duck but can appreciate the nice counterpoint they can bring to the richness of duck meat.