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

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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.

 

 

Issigeac, medieval Dordogne village

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Dordogne, Issigeac, medieval village, Perigord

Issigeac is found to the south-east of Bergerac in the Perigord Pourpre region. Issigeac is a wonderful medieval village which is always particularly popular on Sunday mornings when it hosts one of the best markets in the area. The current town was largely built in the middle-ages, with buildings from the 13-16th century though its origins are much earlier. There are signs of pre-historic life, it was the site of a Gallo-Romain Villa and in the 10th century there was a monastery here linked to the abbey of Sarlat.

Issigeac doesn’t have a readily identifiable ‘town centre’ – rather it is a series of narrow winding streets lined with fascinating ancient buildings – some recently restored, others giving the impression that they are only standing due to the other houses hemmed in on both sides. This contributes significantly to the appeal of the village, in which it is easy to imagine yourself back in the 16th century. Issigeac really is a village not to be missed if you are in this part of the Dordogne. Many of the buildings are in whole or in part constructed in colombage.