Yum Yum Duck Breast

So, Miss Chloë visited me yesterday evening for some dinner. We just happened to have some mallard duck laying around, which I'm sure you all do. So we seared it off and put it on top of some nice lentils and a peach-apricot beurre blanc. How, you ask? Easy.

So, duck breast is very fatty, you can tell from the picture that even we didn't get the chance to render it down as well as we all might like, but it was still delicious. The actual meat is quite lean but since ducks swim in cold water there is a healthy layer of fat under the skin for insulation. To consume, it's best to render the fat the best you can, creating a nice crispy skin that is amazingly delicious. What you want to do first is rinse and dry your duck breast very well. take a sharp knife and score it at a 45 degree angle at a width of about 1/2 inch per score. You want to score the skin and fat as deep as possible without cutting the meat. After the first row of cuts rotate the breast and cut it at a 90 degree angle.

Start off a 10 inch saute pan with about 1/4 inch of canola oil, or preferably duck fat, on medium low heat. Give it about 5 minutes to warm before again, patting dry, salting and placing your breast into the pan. Let it sit, undisturbed for at least 5 minutes before giving the pan a nice little shake. The breast should loosen off the bottom and continue to render. You want to let this cook for between 20 and 25 minutes on medium-low to low heat. The fat will render very slowly and the point is to time the browning of the skin with the rendering of the fat. After the skin is rendered take the breast out and put the pan on high heat. Let it warm for a minute then place the breast in and cook for about 2 minutes. Don't overcook it at this point. You just want to sear the bottom and it should be just about cooked through already.  Finish cooking the breast and let it begin to rest and purge. (Notice the blood on the plate)

For the Sauce:

After searing the duck, drain as much fat as you can and place on medium-high heat. Add diced peaches and apricots. As you can see by the picture above, my dice was quite large. I would recommend half the size of that but it doesn't matter all that much. Once they are softened you can squish them with a fork and all is good. Cook until the fruit just starts to soften and add about a cup of duck stock. Mild chicken stock will work just as well. Reduce the stock by about 80 percent. There should be about 3 or 4 tablespoons of liquid in the stock. At this point you can adjust the acidity by adding some vinegar or whatever acid you like. I used about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar dissolved. Let this cook come to a simmer then remove from the heat and begin to whisk in about 5 ounces of very cold butter cut into small squares. Put in about 2 pieces and whisk until melted before adding two more etc. Keep moving the sauce back and forth from the heat but be warned, if the sauce comes back to a boil the butter will separate and your screwed. When adding the last piece of butter make sure the heat is completely off and the sauce has begun to cool down a bit. This will help it hold together and not break. Add the soft fruit to the soft and taste for seasoning. Yum.

The lentils I simply cooked in water with several pinches of salt. After they were done I drained them and stired in some vinegar to brighten them up.

The plating was easy and self described and although it wasn't good enough to be served at my future restaurant, Daniel Louis' it was pretty damn delicious.