Monday, September 04, 2006
Grilled Duck Breast with Wild Mushrooms
As I mentioned yesterday, I bought a ridiculously large amount of food on the weekend.
Yesterday and the day before we worked our way through the seafood. Today it was time for something much more earthy: two duck breasts I had bought at Fallon & Byrne.I used to find duck breasts really difficult to get right. Duck off the bone always turned out tough and chewy until I realized that I simply do not like my meat cooked pink. In my opinion duck is at its best when it is cooked all the way through until soft and tender with a crispy crackly skin. And the only way to achieve that without drying it out in the process is - no, not difficult as hell, but really, really easy and one that can and is used for all roasts that you want tender and moist with a crunchy skin: Cook it slowly over a very low temperature.
So for roast duck breast, I suggest you go about as follows:
2 duck breasts (off the bone)
salt and pepper to taste
a few spoonfuls of red wine
Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius. Heat a shallow frying pan over medium heat. You do not need to add oil, duck is fatty enough for the brief time it will be in the pan.
Season the duck breasts with some salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, add the duck skin side down. Fry until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Turn over and brown the other side. This is to caramelise the sugars and proteins in the meat and give your duck a lovely meaty flavour.
Place the duck breasts in a large roasting tin, large enough for the heat and steam to escape; you want to roast the meat, not steam it. Roast in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. Pour a bit of red wine over the duck breasts. Don't overdo it, you just need enough to dampen the roast and make a little puddle in the bottom of the tin. Return to the oven and roast for a further 30 minutes, basting occasionally. Finally, increase the heat to 220 degrees and finish off until the skin is crispy.
Christine at 9:07 pm
