Duck breast with honey and vinegar / Magret de Canard au miel et au vinaigre

Tags

Duck, duck breast, honey, magret, Perigord, shallots, vinegar

5 ingredients – that’s all you need to create an amazing dish that is equally good for a simple weekday meal or a beautiful showpiece main course for your next fancy dinner party.  The recipe uses duck magret or “magret de canard,” the breast of a Moulard duck raised for foie gras.  The Moulard is a large bird known for its ample, fatty breast meat.  Two-star Michelin chef Andre Daguin was reportedly the first to sear a magret like a steak at the Hotel de France in 1959. The impromptu recipe caught on and is now found in restaurants the world over.

A typical dish from the Perigord region of France where duck is king.  The cuisine’s origins are often rustic and modest, ingredients are from the terroir which is very rich in taste and flavour: duck, walnuts, wild mushrooms, truffles, honey and wines.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 duck breasts (magret)
2 shallots, finely diced
3 tablespoons honey (acacia honey is good)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Place the magret fat side up on a cutting board
With a very sharp knife, score the fat in a criss-cross pattern

Preheat a  large skillet over medium high heat – do not add butter or oil
Add the duck and sear the breasts, skin side down for 6 minutes
Reduce the heat to medium low and drain most of the fat and reserve for later use
Flip the duck breasts over
Cook them for an additional 6 minutes (magret is best served medium rare)
Wrap the breasts in aluminum foil to keep warm and set aside
Add the shallots to the skillet and allow them to cook, while stirring, for about 2 minutes
Deglaze the skillet with the honey and vinegar, scraping up the browned bits as the sauce cooks
Simmer the honey vinegar glaze for 2 to 3 minutes
Season with salt and pepper
Return the duck breasts to the pan, turning them a few times to coat them evenly with the honey glaze
Carve them into thickish slices and serve them immediately garnished with some of the sweet sour sauce
Enjoy!

 

 

Cook’s Tip: Pour the rendered duck fat into a clean container. Let it cool, refrigerate it, and save it for other culinary uses. It will keep for months and add a wonderful taste to a variety of recipes, particularly potatoes. You can also use it to sear other meats, delivering a unique, extra kick of flavor.

 

 

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Duck breast with peaches

Tags

amuse bouches, Duck, duck breast, hors d'œuvres, magret, peaches

This can be served as a main course (and that is the way I usually do it) but I was planning a dinner and wanted to serve an interesting amuse-bouches before the meal. It dawned on me that by serving this in tiny spoons or individual verrines would be perfect and it certainly turned out a treat.
Quatre épice is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. If you cannot find it readily, simply mix a bit of each together and use that.

Serves 2(as a main course) or 10(as hors d’oeuvres)

Ingredients:

1 large magret / duck breast
2 tablespoons honey
2 peaches in syrup
Pinch of quatre épices

Preparation:

Drain the peaches
Cut them into cubes and purée them in the food processor
Place the peach purée in a pan, add 1 tablespoon honey
Cook over medium low heat for 5 minutes
Score the skin of the duck breast to the flesh
Heat a sauté pan, no oil or butter, and cook the magret skin side down for 8 minutes
Remove the fat as it melts
When the fat is almost all eliminated, turn the magret over, cover, and allow to cook another 5 minutes
The meat must remain rare
Deglaze the sauté pan with the remaining 1 tablespoon honey and the spices
Bring to the boil
On a cutting board, cut the duck into slices or cubes
Place the peach purée on plates or small spoons (if serving as amuse-bouches)
Add the sliced magret and drizzle over some of the reduced jus
Enjoy!

 

 

Magret de canard / grilled duck breast

Tags

BBQ, braai, Duck, duck breast, magret

This must be the recipe with the least amount of ingredients, yet it is simply – melt in the mouth – delicious. Duck is the most popular meat in the Dordogne as we are the “duck farm” of France. There are way more ducks than people here, way more. Often duck is served covered in rich sauces but to really appreciate the true deliciousness, (is there such a word?), the best way to eat it is as simple as possible, salt and pepper, no butter or oil even, and ideally to grill the breasts for the final few minutes on a BBQ.

This is the perfect way to cook a duck breast. It involves a 2 stage cooking, firstly in a skillet on the stove top then on the BBQ grill, gas or coals. This way ensures that most of the fat is rendered in the pan and you can then reserve it for another use, such as pommes de terre sarladaise – yum! And you avoid being suffocated by smoke and dealing with sky high fire flare ups that would occur if you cook it 100% on the BBQ.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 large duck breasts (magrets de canard) about 350 g / 12 oz each
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Place the duck breasts fat side up on a board or plate
With a very sharp knife, score the fat in a crisscross pattern, do not cut into the meat
Season the duck on both sides, rubbing the coarse salt nicely into the cuts
Heat the BBQ grill to medium high heat
Place the duck breasts, skin side down in a large, cold skillet
Switch the heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes, uncovered
Every now and then, drain off the fat into a bowl
Turn and cook meat side down for 1 minute
Reserve the duck fat
Transfer the duck breasts to the grill and cook, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes per side for medium rare or about 7 to 8 for medium
Allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting
Slice the duck breasts into 1 cm / 1/2 inch thick slices and divide between the plates
Enjoy!

 

 

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