A perfectly cooked duck breast (magret de canard) is one of life’s pleasures. Served with a fondant of celeriac cooked in orange juice and a creamy celeriac purée it makes a delicious dinner that you can easily create at home.
The key to cooking the perfect duck breast is twofold; cooking slowly skin side down until the skin is crispy before flipping over to finish and resting the breasts before slicing.
One large duck breast will easily feed 2 people.
- Pat the skin dry with kitchen paper and score across the skin in a criss cross pattern. Try not to pierce the flesh.
- Season well with salt and pepper
- Place the duck breast in a frying pan and turn the heat to medium
- Cook the breast skin side down for 8-10 minutes (8 for a medium breast, 10 for a large one), draining off the fat as it accumulates in the bottom of the pan (keep this for frying potatoes) It wants to be lovely a golden but not burnt so keep an eye on it and don’t have the heat too high
- Turn the breast over, add a sprig of thyme, a large knob of butter (around 20g) and a peeled crushed clove of garlic
- Turn the heat up to high and when the butter has melted, baste the breast constantly with the foaming butter for one to two minutes (one if you like it very rare and two if you like it pink but not too pink)
- Turn off the heat and remove the pan to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing
Perfectly cooked duck breast served with a fondant of celeriac and a creamy celeriac purée
Do not be tempted to serve your duck breast before it has rested. Resting allows the meat to relax and the juices to redistribute. If you carve it too soon you will lose all the juices. Having said that, resting in the buttery juices also leaves you with a delicious jus to pour over the breast after serving.
I’ll post the recipe for the fondant of celeraic and celeriac purée another time. In the meantime – bon appetit!
