I am going to cook duck breasts this evening. I’ve lots of them and I’ve cooked them many ways. Emeril Lagasse’s recipe is pretty straightforward. What to do beside what’s in the recipe? A sauce? I have mushrooms and lots of fruits, liquors and sherry, etc. How can I make it jump the shark?
WAY past time for your duck breasts, Scargod, but I usually do the pan-sear, finish in the oven, and meanwhile, make a tangy sauce of whole fruit or jam (fig jam is always good), brandy, port, orange juice, etc. that is then drizzled over slices of the duck.
I hope it was good!
Thanks for the comment.
I used my BBQ rub on them. Typical pan sear and six minute in 400° convection roasting. We liked it. Did not do a sauce. I had them with sugar snaps and pasta with Pecorino Romano and a Pinot.
As I said, I have a lot of frozen duck breasts. I’ll have to try smoking some of them when I do my next batch of ribs.
I also have sage growing. It is beautiful right now. Think I’ll go looking for oranges.
I also have frozen cranberries I could use.
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I love to make duck ragu and serve it over tagliatelle. I pan sear duck breasts, saute some coarsely chopped onions, carrots and celery in the rendered fat, add some tomato paste, deglaze with a nice red wine, add some chopped plum tomatoes and a good stock (chicken or veal), and oven braise for a couple of hours. Then I remove the duck breasts from the pot, skim off as much fat as possible, remove the skin and fat from the breasts and shred the meat. I use an immersion blender to blend the veggies in with the sauce and thicken it, I add the shredded duck back into the sauce and serve it over tagliatelle or pappardelle. You can also saute some quartered baby 'bella mushrooms and add those to the sauce at the end.
Hours? Seems like a long time unless the temps are somewhat low.
Otherwise, sounds good.
Yep! It’s a low-and-slow oven braise at 325º. You’re not looking for a pink-in-the-middle result, as you’d certainly want if you were serving a pan seared breast. The recipe is one I’ve created by combining recipe elements from Marc Vetri’s Il Viaggio di Vetri and Molly Stevens’ All About Braising.
I like them cut up and stirfried — or are you just looking for ways to serve them whole?
No, not necessarily whole. Just defrosted four more.
Do you remove some or all of the skin, cook it separately or what? I have cooked skin till crispy before and used it in dishes.
The ones I buy come without skin. I reckon you could include the skin in the stirfry, unless you’re absolutely set on having it properly crispy.
Here in France, in butcher shop, you can find sometimes find uncooked marinated duck breasts ready to be roasted in the home oven, which is delicious. This is the recipe I have used: with lots of success. (pls use google translate)
I am curious but was unwilling to take off adblock to see it.
The site has loads of ads. I will have a try in translating…
Roasted duck with Espelette pepper
INGREDIENTS
- 2 duck breasts (same length)
- 1 teaspoon of Espelette pepper
- 1 branch of Rosemary (a mix of thyme and bay leaves will work too)
- 1 tea spoon of sea salt
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 pinch or 2 of paprika (for color)
Mix the pepper, herbs, rosemary (chopped), olive oil and paprika.
Brush the mix on the lean side of the 2 duck breasts, and sprinkle with salt.
Place both breasts lean side vs lean, then tie with strings the breasts with fat outward.
Rub the rest of the preparation with Espelette pepper on the fat, in order to color the skin when roasting.
Put the meat in a freezer bag to create an effect of sous-vide for at least half an hour, if you have Food Saver, it’s even better.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (390ºF)
Put the meat in a baking dish and cook for 30-35 minutes, depending if you like it rare or more cooked, also depending on the size of the breast. (Here they are ducks of foie gras, so the breasts are much fatter)
Hope you will enjoy it, it’s simple but really tasty.
Here are pics
Preparation
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Instead of the French medium-hot Espelette red pepper I used Allepo. These were yummy and a nice way to have the inside rare and the outside getting crispy by tying two breasts together, or as I did by pinning them together with toothpicks. I first roasted for around 15 minutes at 400 then finished them, without turning, by broiling for a couple of minutes at 450. They were at least medium-rare in the middle.
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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I don’t buy duck very often, but if I do I usually make a Thai red curry with duck and grapes. I had this once in Bankok and I LOVED it. I’m not sure my husband is quite such a fan, but if you never cook, you get what you’re given! Ha ha
Thanks for posting the result, looks tasty. One of the problem is the fat coming from the duck creating a smoky oven with lots of projection…even I put the meat on a grill and a dish with water below. I see you have a tray with holes, great idea!
Kitchenangel,
Do you have the recipe? I like Thai food. Thx
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It’s barely a recipe!!. I fry duck breast skin down to render the fat, slice then add to a bought Thai paste, to which I always add fresh ginger, corriander, garlic and lime juice, add the coconut milk and then heat through the sliced red grapes near the end of cooking. Boom. Thai duck curry.
I prefer this to using chicken, if I’m honest.
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It worked! No smoke. I was using convection roasting and had it in the middle of the oven.
On a slight tangent, but if you ever get duck legs as well, this by Thomasina Miers in The Guardian looks good. I’ve added it to my “to try” list.
