I absolutely love duck breast. Its one of those things that if I see it on a menu out someplace I will usually order it. Most of the time, its not prepared the best. I like my duck breast to have a crispy skin and be medium rare. We had a place in Cincinnati, that’s where I am from, that had the best duck breast. It was always prepared, just the way I like it.
I wanted to try it at home, but its one of those things that can psych you out if you haven’t cooked it before. You over cook it, its horrible, you don’t have crispy skin, its nasty and more importantly, duck breast isn’t cheap. So I got duck breast from a local farm here in Atlanta. It was bone-in and had the Wing attached. Now, I’ve never cut a duck breast off the bone, but my dad was a meat cutter, so I have watched him cut a lot and I’ve carved a few chickens. I got the duck thawed out, took a paring knife and cut the breast off the bone. It came out perfect and was fairly easy to do. I just worked my knife around the bone from the inside. Slow cuts, so you don’t chop up the meat. If you have a boneless breast, well then you are ahead of the game.
People think that to get that crispy skin you need to sear it. NOPE, not with duck. If you are cooking two duck breasts, then I recommend a tablespoon, maybe a touch more, but not much of olive oil in a cast iron skillet. the duck will produce a lot of fat, if done correctly. Anyways, salt and pepper on the duck breast, season both sides. Put the breast in the cold (not heated) pan skin side down. Turn the heat on, low. yes, low. You may turn it to medium-low, but everyones stoves are different. Let the fat render slowly. Think about cooking bacon, you get more fat the slower it cooks. The duck works the same way. It will take about 15-20 minutes, but it won’t burn as long as its low heat. The fat will begin to render and then you can turn it over for just 3-5 minutes and it should be medium rare.
Some may disagree with me, but its easy to turn the heat up higher to cook, then to try to cool a hot skillet down. Don’t move it around when the skin is rendering, just leave it be. You will be able to see the fat turning translucent and all of the oil in your skillet, then turn it over.
I recommend taking the duck out of the skillet, letting it rest and using that duck fat to cook some root vegetables or potatoes. whatever you do, don’t waste it. It has amazing flavor. We served ours with a homemade cherry port sauce, that’s where our duck fat went. My other half is amazing at sides and sauces.
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