I know that a lot of people do not cook duck at home because it seems so labor intensive and a "restaurant only" meat. This is a pity as it is delicious and actually not that hard to cook. It also pays the dividend of instant access to rendered duck fat which, though I know is not all that great for me health-wise, I LOVE to use when cooking.
I am actually starting to freeze and hoard duck fat again. I have run through all of my back supplies and have a recipe for duck fat short breads that I want to make as a cocktail nibble for some deserving guest! The breasts from this recipe yielded 3/4 cup of fat so I am well on my way.
Words to the wise: check your duck breast when you buy it. The ones I buy are sold with the label "one pound duck breast" but the package actually contains both breasts of one duck still attached which need to be split in 2. And - most important advice of all - start with a cold pan for the very best crispy skin and duck fat rendering results.
4 duck breasts (about 1/2 lb each in weight - they will lose a lot of volume as the fat renders so do not worry that this is an excessive serving size)
2 tsps finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsps red wine
2 Tbsps fig jam
Salt to taste
Score the fat on each duck breast and salt well on both sides. Turn your kitchen fan to its highest setting. Place duck breasts fat side down in a large skillet. Turn the heat on low and let cook as the fat renders out; about 10 minutes.
Remove the breasts from the pan and pour all the rendered fat into a heat safe container. Return the breast to the pan, this time flesh side down, and raise the heat to medium. Cook for 3 minutes.
Turn the duck over so that fat side is down and, with the heat still on medium, cook for and additional 2-3 minutes. I cooked mine for an additional 3 minutes and ended up with a nice pink center but slightly less appealingly pink ends. Cooking time will very much depend on how pink you like your duck and how thick your duck breast is, so cooking times may not be exactly the same as mine unfortunately. If you work with a meat thermometer, I am told that you are aiming for a cooking temperature of 135 in the center of the breast.
Remove the breasts to a plate or cutting board and tent with foil to rest while you make your gastrique, which is essentially a French vinegar and sugar sauce. I used balsamic and jam to replace the sugar portion of the sauce.
Pour any additional rendered fat in with that which you have already acquired in step one of this recipe.
Increase your heat to medium high. Fling in the rosemary and let cook for 30 seconds so that it heats through and becomes fragrant and aromatic.
Add the balsamic, which will bubble up and immediately start to reduce. Let it do so, by about half, swirling the pan so that it will not burn. This will only take a minute or so.
Add the red wine and the jam, lower the heat and whisk until the fig jam has melted into the sauce. The end result will be smooth and glossy (with dots of fig seed and speckles of rosemary). You could use cherry jam here as well, or orange marmalade.
Cut the duck into slices and serve in a pool of gastrique or with it on the side to keep the duck skin as crispy as possible.
