How to cook duck breast [General]

2011 Oct 8
I've got a frozen, skin on, bone in, organic, pasture raised duck breast in my freezer that I traded from a neighbour. Any ideas/suggestions on how I can best prepare it? I've never cooked duck before.

2011 Oct 8
Score the fat, salt and pepper, then brown fat side down over medium heat in an oven-safe pan until much of the fat has rendered (about 10 to 15 min)--mind it doesn't burn--drain fat, turn up heat a bit, sear other side for a couple of minutes until brown, and finish in a 450 degree oven for...maybe 5 minutes or until medium rare. Pretty much what they do in the linked video, though they seem to skip the searing of the other side because they have a cast iron pan, so no need for that I guess.



One breast should serve a couple of people...it is pretty rich.

It can be a little tough/stringy, so I slice it into 5 mm slices before I plate it. Serve with a steak knife.

It is delicious just as it is, though any sort of pan sauce for game will be tasty, too. My usual is butter, shallots, red wine, stock thyme, dried cherries, thyme, a little lemon rind, and a bit of balsamic vinegar.

I have also served it with mole poblano, as well, and that was a huge hit.

2011 Oct 8
This way (see youtube below) comes out very well. No special equipment needed.

A variation on it is to pre-brine the duck breast with a bit of liquid smoke.

Also I find using a kabob skewer to poke holes in the skin for the fat to render out is a lot easier than scoring the skin with a sharp knife. Just poke as many holes as you can in the skin for a couple of minutes.


2011 Oct 14
Well, I cooked the duck last night using the first method suggest above, and I was surprised! I had no idea duck would be so, well,,, beef-like.

My kids love beef either slow cooked or bloody rare, and when we served the duck to them last night, they started picking at it in the kitchen and they all said: "Mmmmm, mom! It's bloody meat, I love bloody meat!"

It was a real experience making and serving it, as I'm so used to our own chickens that we roast and the meat falls off the bone. I actually had to carve the duck breast, and if I cut it really thin like it was suggested, it was pretty yummy.

After browning it in our cast iron skillet and putting it in the hot oven, I had to turn it down. I wasn't sure if I should have covered it or not, and it was starting to smoke, so I turned down the heat. I think our oven runs a bit hot.

Still not sure if I'd raise my own ducks, as it turns out my husband really dislikes duck, (he did eat it anyways!) and duck is really hard to pluck, but I'm glad I tried it, and it's nice to know that the kids liked it.

Who knew that duck is the 'other beef'... Or maybe it's not, and I really messed up preparing it, lol!

2011 Oct 14
I've had ostrich steaks before and they were like very good beef steaks.

Are there places that you can bring your live ducks to, and have them killed and plucked?

2011 Oct 16
As I said, we've not raised ducks, but other farmers I know that do raise them just process the birds themselves.

From what I've been told, there is only one place around that processes ducks or geese, and they only offer one day a year for processing those birds. Can't remember the name of the place that does it, a google search might turn it up though.

Planning for a day that works for the processor sounds like a bigger pain in the neck than doing it yourself, except that waterfowl (as I'm told by my step-mudder from Newfoundland) are notoriously hard to pluck!

2011 Oct 17
If you want to avoid plucking your ducks, you can always cook the breasts without the skin, in a skillet with just a bit of butter (or rendered duck fat, if you happen to have some). It's probably a bit healthier too, as you can control how much fat you use.

It's what I do with any game bird I'm lucky enough to get, as plucking grouse or ptarmigan without tearing the skin is really not easy. Actually, now that I think about it, my cousin who hunts geese gets them back from his butcher skinned, deboned and smoked. So I'm guessing even professionnal would rather not pluck...