Slow Cooked Duck Breast Recipe
By Mark Knowles
 | Amazon Price: $49.90 |
How to Cook Duck Breast
After many, many attempts at cooking duck - all of which lacked a certain "je ne sais qua," I have finally worked out the best way of cooking duck breast, and the trick is to cook it slowly. Simple really, and it has only taken me about 200 duck breasts to get right. This is one of the simplest duck breast recipes ever, all that is required is some salt and pepper for seasoning and then we are going to make a really simple sauce or glaze from honey and mustard.
The is not a Gordon Ramsay duck breast recipe, although I did pinch one of his potato recipes to serve with it. Cooking duck breast is not exactly rocket science and all you need to cook this one is a cast iron skillet and a small saucepan for the glaze. You can, if you wish, turn this into a baked duck breast recipe by placing the skillet in an oven instead of using a stove top. This way allows you easier access to skim off the fat though. It is also a boneless buck breast recipe because we are only using the breasts. I am also excited to see that Amazon have breast of duck for sale and will ship in a day or so.
They also sell skinless duck breasts, but you really need the fat for any recipe involving duck breast. This also makes a fantastic wild duck recipe. That is where much of the taste comes from and this is relatively low fat because we are going to skim off the fat as the breasts cook. So - the key is slow cooking a duck breast and in this case, I started with a cold skillet. If you are cooking wild duck breasts, the instructions are the same, but you may find less fat on a wild game bird. This will serve 2, although you could turn it into a duck breast appetizer by slicing it up and serving with a salad.
Ingredients:
2 duck breasts
salt and pepper
large bottle of wine
For the glaze:
2 table spoons red wine vinegar
2 table spoons honey
1 table spoon ground pepper
1 table spoon whole grain mustard
 | Amazon Price: $36.68 |
Directions
First - open the wine, pour and sip. We are not going to be adding any to the duck, so this is all for the chef. Start with a cold skillet. Season the duck breasts with a good helping of salt and pepper, place in a cold skillet, skin side down. Cook slowly over a low heat for around 25 minutes until all the fat has been rendered off, skimming as you go. Do not throw the fat away - it it great for making oven roasted potatoes. When all the fat has come away, turn the heat up to high for about 5 minutes to crisp the skin. Then turn the duck over, turn the heat off and leave the breasts to sit in the pan for another 15 minute with no heat.
For the gaze: While the duck is sitting resting, add the ingredients to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the volume by around half and pour over the duck breasts just before serving.
 | Amazon Price: $35.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $16.19 List Price: $23.90 |
For the potatoes:
I served these with sauteed potatoes with a garlic and shallot confit. This is taken from a Gordon Ramsay duck breast recipe, but I prefer this one.
Ingredients:
4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thickly
For the confit:
4 shallots
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper
First peel and slice the potatoes thickly and peel and chop the garlic and shallots very finely (as in the photos). Place the potatoes in a saucepan full of cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. remove and drain, leave covered to sit and cool. Add the ingredients for the confit to a small sauce pan, cover with a lid and slow cook for about 30 minutes until the shallots are going brown, then remove the bay leaf and discard. I did this first, left the potatoes to sit and the confit to cook and then made the duck. When the duck was sitting and resting, I finished the potatoes.
To finish the potatoes. Drain the oil from the confit and add to a cast iron skillet - then fry the potatoes over a medium heat until going brown. Add half the confit and toss the potatoes in the mixture, cooking until golden brown. The confit should caramelize, giving a lovely sweet flavor that complements the duck also. Add the rest of the confit when serving the meal.
Bon apetit!
Comments
That all sounds wonderful. I will have to try adding butter to get it crisper. :) I like the sound of that.
I see you are already back in the "lets cook with wine club" ;-) Great recipe, I will try your glaze next time, a bit a variation to my usual orange+honey sauce ;-) SY
Well - I figured that just because I had quit - I did not need to inflict that on everyone. Thanks for reminding me. :)
This recipe sounds great. The best duck I ever had was one my father-in-law killed during a camping trip. I tried to buy one from the store to cook it, but there was too much fat, and the flavor wasn't as good.
To get rid of the fat - put the duck with some salt into the oven at 250oC - have it almost done- take it out - pout the fat away - cut onion, water, and low salt soya souce - back into the oven at 180oC and the duck is perfect. Finally three teaspoon of flour into 3/4 cup of water stir it and poure into the sauce - put the duck into the oven again to get the sauce done for about 10 - 15 minutes. PERFECT.
That sounds good too. I almost made this with soy sauce and honey instead of mustard and honey.
Sounds good, looks good and has my mouth watering...Pretty amazing for someone who is a vegan.. :o)
Do you do all that cooking ? what a shame you're married ! LOL :)
Yummy! I love duck..but I usually bake the whole duck stuffed with oranges. This is really good! Slow bake and comes out juicy and has a good flavor---I will add this to my recipes...Thanks for sharing!!!
I have never cooked duck but it looks wonderful. Thanks for the recipe. Good hub.
Thanks all. I hope you try it for yourselves.
tantrum - you strike me as a bit of a hedonist. Do you not cook yourself? :)
LOLOL!!!
Yes ! but I'm lazy! :)
I love eating duck! In Thailand, we put roast duck in red curry. It's a delicacy. By the way, congrats. It sounds like everyone approves this recipe. No mean angry comment like the one on your macaroni and cheese hub lol
In the immortal words of Homer Simpson: yuaaaaaah...sounds delicious another Knowles bookmarked hub
Sounds yummy, for another variation on this dish you can substitute peppercorns for the black pepper, or make a light peppercorn and rosemary demi glaze :)
Never cooked duck in my life, but I will print this one and try it!
This was absolutely FABULOUS! The duck was gifted to me and I was intimidated to cook it. The simplicity of your recipe (after YOUR many trials and errors) sold me. I did not have red wine vinegar so I used tart cherry balsamic. That was too sweet so I added another tablespoon of the mustard and spashed in a few tablespoons of red wine! My duck was skinned so I rubbed butter in the pan before adding the duck. What a decadent, delectable indulgence! Thank you!
I just murdered $12 worth of duck breasts - well, they were actually dead already, THEN decided to learn how to cook them. There is a different way for each accomplished/famous chef. SO, finding a low-heat approach which tends ti keep protein from turning to rubber, I will try your approach. Maybe I needed the bottle of wine! By the way, do you score the skin??
just read this recipeee it's delectable. can't wait, yea yea yea.
I had bought duck breast but was afraid to cook it, until I found your recipe.
Thank you! It was so easy and delicious.
I used yuzu jam instead of honey for the glaze- gave it a nice citrus kick.
The duck breast was uneven in thickness so one side got a little bit tough - should I have pounded it even before cooking?
I think I'll go buy more duck breasts now.. :)
Your techniques for duck and potatoes worked really great. I didn't have any red wine vinegar so I made a balsamic vinegar glaze with grain mustard instead for the duck (used a bottled balsamic glaze, added a heaping tsp of grain mustard and a little white wine from the fridge). Also, I was out of shallots for the confit so I substituted half of a sweet onion. Both duck and potatoes were awesome and I will make again. I made these (and roasted asparagus) for Thanksgiving supper for me and hubby (no family get together this year) and we were quite happy with the non-turkey alternative. We'll have turkey another day.
Duck even store bought is lovely. Duck has high conecentrationsof fat. That is why you need to prick the skin throughly over the entre duck, then on the breat you score it without cutting through the flesh, rub it in 2 large handfuls of coourse salt and bake turning every 45 minutes until done. You will get a lovely crispy skin and great flavor. Save the fat in the pan for confit, roasting potatoes etc. It is really a thankful bird to cook.
SimeyC 2 years ago
Sounds good! I cook duck often - the best way to do it is on a moderate heat - when preparing - every inch (on the thighs as well) cut deeply to expose the 'flesh' - this allows the fat to come out and ensures that the duck is moist and not fatty - I usualy brush with butter as well - to get it crispier - also turning up the temperature for the last five minutes also helps!!!
Also - placing an orange, or a lemon inside the duck when cooking adds a nice flavor throughout the duck - you can also chop up some apple, onion and celery and stuff the duck - the stuffing is also good too!