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Ingredients
- 2 duck breasts - I buy them frozen at Whole Foods
- 1/4 cup grade B pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- zest from one orange
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
Details
Servings 2
Adapted from food52.com
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375. Score the skin of your duck in a criss-cross pattern, about a half inch apart, being careful not to cut through to the meat. Generously salt and pepper the duck all over.
Heat an oven safe skillet just to medium. It is important not to get the heat too high, because you want to brown and crisp the skin and render most of the fat without burning the skin or overcooking the meat. An iron skillet is really best for this. I also give it a spritz of no-stick JUST to be safe.
While the duck is browning mix together the syrup, zest, thyme and red pepper. Once your skin is brown and crispy and glorious, flip the duck over and spoon the syrup glaze over. Into the oven with it. After about 5 minutes, Re-lacquer the duck with the now fatty sticky wonderfulness in the pan, then back into the oven for about 5 more minutes (depending on the size of your ducks) - an internal temp of 125-130 is medium rare which is duck breast at its most delicious.
Make sure to rest the duck for at least 5 minutes, 10 is better, before slicing.
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Oh good I am so glad you liked it! I somehow missed the below comments but alla y'alls ( :-) Texas) kind comments remind me that I need to make it again soon!
Excellent. I segmented the zest end orange, squeezed the juice out of the pith and added it to the maple syrup mixture. At the end of cooking I added the orange segments to the sauce. While the duck rested, I sautéed escarole in a little of the duck fat and added some garlic. Fantastic together.
We were going to do oven-roasted potatoes. I planned to parboil them a bit first but forgot about them (we have 9-month-old triplets who just learned to crawl!). They were a mushy mess when I found them again. I let them dry in the colander, and then fried the in the extra duck fat -- not as good as the duckfatfriedpotatoes, but good! The duck was DELICIOUS. Absolutely wonderful, thank you. And the cabbage was a pretty awesome side, too.
I love this recipe! A few notes: I didn't have as much maple syrup as I thought, so I substituted honey for most of it and added a little splash of orange juice to make the glaze easier to spread. The 6 oz frozen duck breasts I bought were pretty thin and only needed about 6 minutes in the oven. I served it with fiveandspice's Suspiciously Delicious Cabbage for a great dinner.
love this!! quintessential aargersi. saved to make soon with duck from your fave purveyor!
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