Breasts...of a duck.
 

a local duck farm (ranch?) is having Covid issues where restaurants just are not buying duck. so (Covid-Silver-Lining alert), they are offering their product to the public.

i dont ever recall eating a duck breast, that wasnt Peking duck. (or had shotgun pellet holes) i certainly never cooked a duck breast before. uncharted territory.

i think i got off cheap. two breast halves for a twenty dollar bill. bonus, their cold storage is down the street from my office!!

any tips on cooking? figured i'll render the fat from the skin, and bake it med rare. eat it with A1 steak sauce or ketchup. opps, eat it with A1 steak sauce or ketchup. ahh..better.

I’d do it in a pan, you can concentrate heat on the skin to render fat. If roasting, the flesh is liable to be overcome before the skin is crispy enough. Not a whole duck, so don’t have the rest of the body protecting the breast.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2018/02/pan-seared-duck-breast.html

thanks J.

that is surprisingly easy. i bought two breasts, so i have a fall back plan if i kill the first one.

Salt at least an hour before cooking. Cross hatch cut the skin down to but not into the flesh. Start cooking on a cold pan skin side down to render the fat out and crisp the skin at medium heat. If too much fat fills the pan mop it out with kitchen paper. To finish flip over to meat side to finish to med rare. Yeah, stay away from ketchup or A1. A fruit compote heated with some red wine salt and pepper would work.

i bought a killer sauvignon blanc this past weekend. should work.

i'll do a simple pan sauce. i do have some frozen organic blueberries..hmmm.

This is how I do it. While the breasts rest I make a sauce just like this in the pan with the fat drippings. Sometimes use local jam, blueberry or fig are my favorite

thank you.

i just ate a late lunch and you made me hungry again. figs is a great idea. i love cooking with figs.

Rub the whole bird with kosher salt.
Stuff the cavity with apples and prunes to soak up the fat.
Cook on a raised rack.
Get a clarifier to make the best gravy around from the drippings.

Never cooked farmed duck but for wild I do the following

Brine overnight (you might shorten or skip since not wild)

Rinse

Very very light dusting of homemade kc rib rib. Very light!

Smoker at 175 or so until just firming up. Doesn’t work so well at higher smoke temps like 225. Bigger farmed breasts might tolerate better.

Pull off and eat hot sliced thin. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...27583d6766.jpg

score and season the breasts.. Then...

Sous vide them.. they'll be cooked perfectly and you can collect the duck fat from the sous vide bag (liquid gold)..

Then sear the skin to crisp it...

I'm partial to a red or penang curry sauce with duck.. and som tam (papaya salad)

Clarify the collected duck fat, and use for home fries or something...

I love duck... have a few magret duck breasts in deep freeze right now

zero doubt. the duck fat. i am gonna toss some Yukon gold potatoes in the fat and bake them for home fries. the fat,i know what to do. :)

may I suggest a Burgundy with the duck?

IIRC Shaun made an awesome looking duck breast meal once. Maybe call up Tru6 and ask for the recipe?

We had some duck breasts a while back. They came out REALLY great. They were tender, juicy and flavorful. I asked the missus what she did.

She said she used the process in this link https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-duck-breast-254046
But instead potatoes she used pears and brandy to make some sort of brandy pear reduction.

I'll give you a whole duck for $20.

Mama cooked chicken, she thought it was a duck
She put it on table wit its legs straight up
Daddy come home with a spoon and a glass
And started dippin out the gravy from his yas, yas, yas.

One of many version of this old song.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/chef-thomas-kellers-pan-roasted-duck-recipe#4-additional-ways-to-cook-duck-breast

Don’t over cook it. Don’t under cook it, either.

I assume you prepared these duck breasts for dinner last night, how did it go, and was it tasty ?

https://skillet.lifehacker.com/will-it-sous-vide-plump-and-juicy-duck-breasts-1795140911