First Attempt at Duck Magret

A little while ago, I decided to give cooking duck a try.  I picked up a beautiful piece of Hudson Valley duck breast from Citarella and a few additional ingredients and heated up the pan.

I made a few cross hashes across the skin of the duck and a sprinkle of black pepper and salt for seasoning on both sides while the pan heated up on the stove to a medium high.  After carefully putting the duck skin side down, I waited patiently for almost ten minutes while spooning out and reserving the puddle of duck fat that had formed at the bottom of the pan.  Despite opening both sets of my windows as wide as I could, the smoke detector still protested and wailed as the duck  breast seared.  Note to self, cooking without a ventilator in a studio apartment might not be the best idea ever.  Thankfully, the time passed quickly and two more minutes on the skinless side and the duck was ready to rest on a cutting board.

While the duck rested, I prepared some sides to go along with the seared duck breast.  The reserved duck fat was put to good use to make some smashed duck fat new potatoes.  I cheated a little by boiling the potatoes first and then pressing them to flatten before searing them off in the fat until golden brown.  A sprinkle of coarse salt and a dollop of fresh ginger scallion sauce, these were ready to go.

And for some vegetables, I made my rendition of the brussels sprouts with sriracha that I love so dearly from Joseph Leonard.  The second time cooking these, I have learned my lesson and only cooked the shredded brussels sprouts briefly so they still retained a nice crunch.

Finally, every component of this homemade meal was complete and ready to be plated.  The duck was a beautiful medium rare and perfect over a bed of white rice with the brussels sprouts and new potatoes.  Overall, a pretty successful first attempt at cooking duck magret.