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Juniper Duck
Bring a ~2# moulard double duck breast up to room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 400 convection, or 450 if you don't have a convection oven.
Grind 1 tbsp of juniper berries. I use a molcajete for this and find it's better than my porcelain mortar and pestle, but I imagine a spice mill would also work great. Combine with 1 tbsp of medium coarse salt.
Score the fat side of the duck -- I make a diagonal crosshatch pattern at maybe 8mm spacing. You want the cuts to go more than half way through the fat layer, but not all the way through.
Rub the juniper salt mixture on both sides of the duck. The scored fat will hold it better so most of the mixture goes there.
Place the duck in a *cold* cast iron skillet fat side down, turn the heat on high, and start a timer counting up from zero.
If the pan fills up with more rendered fat than the remaining thickness of the fat on the duck, pour it off into a bowl.
When the fat layer is half as thick as when it started, take note of how long that took. Usually for me this is somewhere between 5 and 7 minutes, depending on the size of the duck breast. Flip the duck over and cook the meat side for 45 seconds. You might also cook the angled edges at the center of the double duck breast some by either propping the duck against the side of the pan or pressing down on the center with a spatula.
Flip the duck back onto the fat side, drain any remaining fat, and put the skillet in the oven for the same amount of time as it took to render halfway through the fat layer.
After cooking, remove from pan and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. While it's resting is usually when I pour off the last of the fat into the bowl and then strain that into a jar to cool for use in other recipes.
Serves 3-4 depending on what sides you've got.
Preheat your oven to 400 convection, or 450 if you don't have a convection oven.
Grind 1 tbsp of juniper berries. I use a molcajete for this and find it's better than my porcelain mortar and pestle, but I imagine a spice mill would also work great. Combine with 1 tbsp of medium coarse salt.
Score the fat side of the duck -- I make a diagonal crosshatch pattern at maybe 8mm spacing. You want the cuts to go more than half way through the fat layer, but not all the way through.
Rub the juniper salt mixture on both sides of the duck. The scored fat will hold it better so most of the mixture goes there.
Place the duck in a *cold* cast iron skillet fat side down, turn the heat on high, and start a timer counting up from zero.
If the pan fills up with more rendered fat than the remaining thickness of the fat on the duck, pour it off into a bowl.
When the fat layer is half as thick as when it started, take note of how long that took. Usually for me this is somewhere between 5 and 7 minutes, depending on the size of the duck breast. Flip the duck over and cook the meat side for 45 seconds. You might also cook the angled edges at the center of the double duck breast some by either propping the duck against the side of the pan or pressing down on the center with a spatula.
Flip the duck back onto the fat side, drain any remaining fat, and put the skillet in the oven for the same amount of time as it took to render halfway through the fat layer.
After cooking, remove from pan and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. While it's resting is usually when I pour off the last of the fat into the bowl and then strain that into a jar to cool for use in other recipes.
Serves 3-4 depending on what sides you've got.
no subject
Wait, so that sounds like you're pan-frying and then roasting a 2# duck breast in ~15 minutes total.
no subject
Bringing the duck to room temp first is important, as is resting the duck after roasting. This recipe doesn't work if you don't do those things.
no subject
You are a braver man than I, sir.