How to Sear a Duck Breast
Jan 4th, 2009 | By Hank | Category: Cooking Basics, Wild Game | Comments | 22 Comments |
I get a lot of requests for simple wild game cookery tasks, so I thought I would run through a few of them as my whims and household activities warrant. Lately I’ve been searing off a lot of duck breasts. So I thought I’d kick off this set of posts with step-by-step instructions on how to sear a duck or goose breast properly.
I know, many of you are thinking, “I know how to do this already, Hank.” To you I apologize; what’s more, my method is idiosyncratic and is likely to be different from yours — but it works. For the rest of you, here goes.
Be sure to have breasts with skin on them. Skinless breasts are not good candidates for searing, as they are boring. Use them for something else.
STEP ONE: Take the meat from the fridge and let it come towards room temperature. If you are using a domestic duck, score the skin in a cross-hatch pattern, making the cross-hatches about an inch across; this helps the fat render and will give you a crispier skin. ( thanks to a reader for reminding me about this for domestics — I cook domestic duck so rarely! ) Salt it well on both sides, then let it stand on a cutting board or some such for at least 15 minutes.
STEP TWO: Heat a large pan (NOT non-stick!) over high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add a short tablespoon of duck fat, or some other oil. Let this get hot for another 1-2 minutes. Do not let it smoke.
STEP THREE: With the back of a chef’s knife (or other knife), scrape the skin side of the duck, then pat it dry. This gives you a nice, flat, dry surface to sear on.
STEP FOUR: Lay your breasts down on the hot oil, skin side down. Turn the heat down to medium. You will notice the “tails” of skin and fat from the head and the tail side of the fillet contract immediately. What? You cut off those parts? Shame. Don’t do it again…
STEP FIVE: Let the pan do its job. Cook at a jocular sizzle — not an inferno, not a gurgle — for…it depends. I like my duck medium-to-medium-rare. To do this with teal or buffleheads will require only about 2 minutes on the skin side, and you might want to keep the heat higher. Wigeon, gadwall or other medium ducks need 3-5 minutes, mallards, pintail and domestic ducks 4-6, and geese definitely need to be on medium (even medium-low) and need a good 8-10 minutes. The key is to let the breast do most of its cooking on this side — it’s the flattest, and will give you that fabulously crispy skin we all know and love.
STEP SIX: Turn the breasts over. When? Follow the guidelines above, but also use your ears: You will hear the sizzle change; it will die down, just a bit. That’s when you turn. Now — this is important — lightly salt the now-exposed skin immediately. Doing this seems to absorb any extra oil and definitely gives you a yummier, crispier skin. Let the ducks cook on the meat side for less time, such as:
- 1-2 minutes for small ducks
- 2-3 for medium or large ducks
- 4-6 for geese
STEP SEVEN: “Kiss” the thick side of the fillet. You will notice that duck and goose breasts plump up and contract as they cook. One side of the fillet will be wider than the other, and this side will need some heat.
You can see the wider side in the picture (above, left). Just tip the breasts on their sides and cook for 30 seconds to a minute, just to get some good color.
STEP EIGHT: Take the duck off the heat and let it rest on a cutting board. Teal only need a minute or two, while big Canada geese might need 10 minutes. You need to do this or the juices will run all over your cutting board — and not down your chin, where they should be.
You can slice from either end, either side up. You can get thinner slices by starting at the meat end, but you lose a little of the crispiness of the skin. If you are serving a whole breast, always serve it skin side up, with its sauce underneath.
That’s it. This may sound like a long process, but it all comes together in a few minutes, once you start cooking. What’s funny is that it took me quite a lot of thinking to write this piece: Much of what I do is instinctive, from cooking hundreds of duck breasts. Breaking it down was harder than I’d thought.
But I hope this helps the next time you feel like cooking duck breasts — wild or domestic. And if I am unclear or you have other questions, ask away!
Great basics Hank – looks luxurious!. One question, why the non-stick pan? I’ve used both a regular Calphlon and a non-stick without any difference in results. What’s the trick here?
You cannot get a good crust on a piece of meat with a non-stick pan; that’s not what they’re made for. for starters, you destroy your non-stick surface if you use it over anything beyond the “medium” setting. Plus, you want an initial “stick” when the skin hits the pan — this is the crust forming.
The combination of just a little fat and ripping hot metal is what gives you that classic crust.
Thank you so much for this post! I was just considering writing you for tips on searing duck breasts
What type of salt do you use? Normal, kosher, sea salt, doesn’t seem to matter..?
I use Kosher salt from Mortons. Use whatever you want, but know your salt — if you use fine-grained salt, you will need a smaller pinch than you would with coarse grained.
And don’t use fancy salts here: Save the fleur de sel for a little accent right at service.
Dang, I’m ready to go get me a duck. Happy New Year, Hank!
Hank,
Thanks for the instructions.
You comment about pans got me thinking: if you could only have one pan, what would you choose and why?
Caleb: I am a huge fan of my All-Clad stainless-steel fry Pan
. I have a 14-inch, restaurant-quality version, which has a very heavy bottom and thinner sides. It holds heat well and I can easily flip things in it without a spatula. It should also outlast me…
Awesome stuff. It has been a while since I cooked a duck breast. I favor stainless or carbon steel for this stuff for sure.
I can see why it took you a while to write – so much is intuition – that is hard to write down -but you managed it, flawlessly!
“Skinless breasts are not good candidates for searing, as they are boring. Use them for something else.” Hank, do you have some suggestions for what to do with skinless wild goose breasts? I have a couple of bags, given to me (can’t really complain about the lack of skin…) In the past, I made rillettes and pulled BBQ goose, and that worked very well. A few days ago, I tried a daube, slow-cooked with wine & tomatoes. And that was not a success: still pretty tough despite 6 hours of simmering… I guess slow coking in fat gives good results, but not in an acidic base… So, I’d love some suggestions.
Many thanks.
Sylvie
http://www.LaughingDuckGardens.com/ldblg.php
Sylvie: I’d make sausage with all that snow goose. Lots, and lots of sausage. I have several recipes on this site, and will be adding a dry-cured duck (or goose) soppressata in a few days…
Thanks for the detailed instructions, great method. one quibble on salting though. I recently read something (don’t have time to dig it up, sorry) that said that 15 minutes is exactly the worst amount of time for salting meat, as it draws out moisture without allowing time to reabsorb. The ideal amount of salting time is either zero minutes (just before searing) or 40+ minutes, which is long enough for moisture to be drawn out and then drawn back in (with the salt) to ensure even seasoning.
Thanks for the suggestion, Hank. Your Duck/Goose Sausage Hunter’s Style looks delectable. I’ve got plenty of pastured pork fat – will try!
Sylvie
Hi – I’ve a question, but it’s about confit.
I’ve heard that goose fat’s the prefered cooking and storing choice of fat and wondered why it’s better than duck fat for duck confit.
I know I’m off topic, but I’ve wondered about this for years now.
thanks, cindy
Cindy: I have no idea why goose fat might be more common than duck fat. My two guesses would be that a) geese are larger and fattier, so you’d have more goose fat hanging around, and b) domestic goose fat is, if I remember right, slightly more saturated than duck fat, which means it’ll stay solid at a warmer temperature, meaning it will be better to preserve the confit than duck fat, which will melt a few degrees cooler. Just a guess…
Thanks – Your guesses sound good to me. I’d never thought about, and didn’t know, the amount of fat available on different birds and the solidity differences. Makes a a lot of sense.
I’d been wondering if there’s a taste differnce, but your answers are much better.
Can’t a goose breast be finished in the oven? I do that with all my game meats – sear in the pan then warm through in a 350-degree oven until med-rare using the touch test.
Heather: Yep. You can finish duck and goose breasts in the oven. I do it often.
I have such duck envy. These posts are making me deeply jealous.
I do like to score the skin a little; it renders off more fat for later use, and exposes more surface area to the hot pan for extra crispyness. And it looks pretty, like a waffle made of delicious fat.
Peter: I am totally with ya when I am dealing with domestic ducks — “fat waffle.” Mmmmm…
But leave a wild duck skin alone, as even fat ones are nowhere near as fatty as a domestic.
If you were to finish a seared breast (or maybe a thick steak) in the oven how long would you put it in for and at what temperature. I would love to learn how to get that perfect medium-rare temp. Thanks for all the great information!
Oh and also I have been looking for a good chocolate sauce to go with duck, any ideas?
Joanna: I would put it in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, tops. It does depend on thickness and how well you seared off the other side, too. This technique is difficult to teach — you develop a “sixth sense” about it after having done maybe 100 of them…
…and as for chocolate sauce, can’t help you. IMHO, savory chocolate sauces don’t go well with duck. Now pheasant or turkey is another matter…