Help cooking duck breast?

[jerseyjay14]

Unless you turn it into a hockey puck I am not sure you can go wrong with duck breast.

yea.... thats why its frustrating... seems i just cant get crispy skin.... even when the surface is super seared and browned, i just cant shed the fat underneath and its super rubbery

hopefully the tips here workout

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I would put the skin side up when in the oven. I would use a small rack in the pan to keep the breasts out of their juices.

And to remove the fat from the pan, just tip it to allow it to go to one edge, then use a spoon to remove it. Just get most of it, no need to get it all. Repeat as necessary. There is no need to remove the breasts from the pan while doing this. (In fact don't.) Just tip the pan and spoon out the excess fat. The fat that remains will help conduct heat from the pan to the skin and promote additional browning and de-fatting.

 

[Claire]

Oh, dearie me. Never have a problem with skin not crispy enough. That said, probably because I don't mind the meat on the rare side. I score it and put it on a very, very hot skillet. A few times back, someone asked me why I said I don't "do" duck in the winter. This smokes like crazy and I do not have an exhaust fan. But I sear it skin-down.

 

[FrankZ]

You might try this:

While it is in the low pan rendering, flip it over, poke the skin to help release more fat then flip it back.

When I roast a duck in the oven I go 300F for about 3.5-4 hours, flipping every hour and I poke the diamonds when I flip. Then crank to 450 for 5-10 minutes to finish the crisping.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Now that you mention that Frank, when I roast duck I liberally stab it with a fork all over the skin, to help release the fats. In the OP's case perhaps he could fork stab it first and then cut the diamonds.

 

[Andy M.]

When the duck is in the pan skin side down, just pour the fat off from time to time. It doesn't matter how often you do it or when. Keep a bowl by the stove and hold the breast with a tongs and pour the fat into the bowl. Return the duck and the pan to the stove. It's OK if the duck moves in the pan.

When you are done rendering the fat in the pan the skin will be super crisp if you did it right (as I described). Then you flip the breast over so it's skin side up and pop it into the oven. The skin will be crisp going in and since it's skin side up, it shouldn't change.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

When the duck is in the pan skin side down, just pour the fat off from time to time. It doesn't matter how often you do it or when. Keep a bowl by the stove and hold the breast with a tongs and pour the fat into the bowl. Return the duck and the pan to the stove. It's OK if the duck moves in the pan.

That's better than my suggestion.

 

[Andy M.]

That's better than my suggestion.

thanks