Duck Breast With Blueberry-Port Sauce Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What goes best with duck breast? ›

Serve with noodles or steamed rice and pak choi. Duck Breast, Sweet Potato & Pickled Fennel Duck and sweet potato is a loving marriage; so what could be better than a dinner that pairs the two? Duck Breast & Fries Steak and chips done the Gressingham way!

I always start by patting raw duck breasts dry before showering their skin and flesh with kosher salt. This salt cure penetrates the meat, creating a natural brine that boosts flavor, tenderness, and ease of cooking. Often, I like to add ground spices like cumin and coriander to the salt for an aromatic punch.

Place the duck breasts skin side up on a rack in a roasting tin in the middle of the pre-heated oven. Cook for 15-18 minutes, depending how you like your duck cooked. When the duck is cooked to your liking rest the meat in a warm place for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Season duck generously with salt and pepper. For best results, place on a plate and refrigerate uncovered overnight before proceeding. Seal duck in vacuum bags. Place in 130°F (54°C) water bath for at least 45 minutes and up to 4 hours.

How long a duck breast takes to cook will depend on how well you want it cooked and how you choose to cook it. If simply pan-frying as described above then a duck breast will roughly take 15-20 mins to be cooked until still rosy in the middle or 25-30 mins until cooked all the way through.

Season duck breasts with salt, heavily on the skin side and lightly on the flesh side. Place duck breasts, skin side down, in a large, cold sauté pan. Place pan over low to medium-low heat. To keep the edges from curling up, press duck breasts down with the help of a smaller sauté pan or cooking weight.

Combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, five spice powder, dry mustard and some salt and pepper in a bowl. Using a sharp knife, score the skin of the duck so it has a 1/4-inch diamond pattern. Rub the spice mixture all over the duck.

To simplify, a brine is a liquid that will replace duck blood, or the blood of any other animal, with a mildly salty solution. It adds moisture and flavor and mellows out — not disguises — the natural flavor of waterfowl. I do not cook a duck or goose without first soaking it overnight in brine.

But there is no reason that you shouldn't be cooking high-class duck breast in your own home, whether or not you hunted it yourself. To make it well, just be sure that you render the thick layer of fat under the skin and you don't overcook the meat!

Duck meat is an excellent source of protein. Protein keeps us healthy by building and repairing our muscles, skin and blood. Duck meat is an excellent source of iron, providing 50% of the iron we need in a day. Iron helps make healthy blood that flows through our bodies, giving us energy and making us grow.

Should you sear duck breast before sous vide? ›

Pre-searing your duck can help to create a crispier skin and also prevent the duck flesh from cooking too much when finishing. The reason? By frying the duck skin while the breast is cold, less of the flesh cooks, therefore retaining more moisture and pinkness.

It sounds like a reliable and mistake-proofed cooking method — that low and slow approach. But it is possible to overcook duck confit.

For the perfect roasted duck Ina Garten recommends boiling the whole bird in a broth of your choice for 45 minutes. This will help cook the bird evenly, then pat dry and move to a 500°F (260°C) oven to crisp up that skin and until the breast reaches an internal temperature of 135–140°F (57–60°C).

Mashed Pumpkin – A common side dish for duck meat meals are mashed pumpkins. Its sweet and earthy flavour is improved by mashing the vegetable with milk, pepper, butter, and salt. Cabbage – Cabbage is most likely the most common side dish that's paired with duck meat.

The best side dishes to serve with roast duck are mashed potatoes, yellow rice, french fries, Brussels sprouts with bacon, ratatouille, grilled asparagus, mushroom risotto, deviled eggs, baked zucchini, eggplant salad, butternut squash, carrot mash, blistered tomatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and caramelized carrots.

Stronger flavored side dishes make a perfect pairing for duck. Root vegetables, sweet potatoes, a delicious sauce like orange sauce, cranberry sauce or red currant gravy that have some sweetness or sweet and tangy flavor complement the rich flavor of the savory duck.

The finest side dishes to serve with roast duck include mashed potatoes, garlic butter green beans, sauteed vegetables, garlic herb rice, roasted potatoes, fried carrots, tomato cucumber salad, sweet fried plantains, and red cabbage slaw.