Welcome to volume two of “Why don’t Americans eat more of that?” (I will get off of that hobbyhorse before the next column, I promise.) This time, the underappreciated food is the duck, and the cut is the breast.
Once again, as with lamb, we have a versatile, easy-to-prepare and healthful-for-red-meat food that is often overlooked, especially at home. Full disclosure: I am guilty of this too. Why? Well, I guess I don’t see it at the stores I go to, and then there’s the old force-of-habit rut. But those are really poor excuses. With little effort, I can make a major addition to my food arsenal. You can too.
Last time I wrote about duck, I went right to the mountaintop and spoke with Ariane Daguin. Gascony-born Daguin is the daughter of chef André Daguin, who she credits with inventing the now-ubiquitous method of cooking the breast alone and quickly. (Previously, ducks had been roasted and/or confited. Do yourself a favor and confit legs sometime. Dead easy and fantastic.)
Ariane came to the U.S. in the 1970s to study, and within 10 years had founded d’Artagnan, originally a purveyor of duck and duck foie gras but now offering a wider range of gourmet poultry, meats and seafood. Though she sold the company recently and today runs a farm with her daughter, there is no greater authority on buying, selling and cooking duck.
Step one is getting the meat. We’ve listed a few top sources below. For this recipe you want boneless breasts, sometimes listed as magret. The next choice is breed. Though there are four main ones, the vast majority of duck sold in the United States is Pekin, aka Long Island duck, which grows quickly and is fairly big. It has a thin layer of fat and is mild. The breed Moulard is similar. Rohan duck has thin skin that crisps quickly, and Muscovy is favored by people who like more flavor. If you’re new to duck, don’t sweat the breed too much.
Step two is to determine the seasoning. As with the meat, let your taste guide you. The recipe below is basic, with a note outlining three broad directions for flavor. Do what sounds good to you. Keep in mind that duck is eaten the world over, so think of a cuisine and chances are they have an approach you can try. China, Japan, Indonesia, most of Europe, all over the U.S., you name it. Even Freedonia.
How to Cook Duck Breast
Below is the foundational recipe. Starting with that, you can go in lots of directions with added flavors. There are different camps. Some people prefer traditional French fruit sauces, often fortified with a little wine or spirit. Orange or cherry are common. Others see this as a chance to lean on their favorite herbs and spices; truly, you can go in just about any direction you like there. And then there are the extremists who believe that, if the sweet, earthy meat is top notch, a sauce will just obscure its flavors.
The most important step is to score the skin without piercing the meat. “When you score it, be patient,” Daguin says. “Try to score it in as little squares as possible [1/4 inch or smaller]. Because the more squares, the more you’re going to be able to render the fat.”
Instructions
Season the breasts with salt and pepper and place them skin-side down in a dry cast iron pan or other heavy pan over low heat. Once the fat starts releasing, turn the heat up to medium. The timing varies, but the skin should be crisp and golden after 8 to 10 minutes.
Then remove the fat from the pan by draining it into a container. Flip the breasts, increase the heat to high and cook about 3 minutes more, until the interior temperature (as measured by a meat thermometer) is about 130° F for medium rare. Let the breasts rest 5 minutes before carving into slices at an angle. (Serving size is roughly 8 ounces per person.)
Tip: Reserve your duck fat as a delicious medium for frying potatoes.
Spice it up: Duck takes swimmingly to a variety of flavors. We like to jazz it up by rubbing a generous teaspoon of five spice powder onto each breast.
Which Wines Pair Well with Duck Breast?
The brain trust at M. Shanken Communications, Wine Spectator’s parent company, is astonishingly broad and deep. If you need counsel on just about any subject—not just wine, food and travel, but also spirits, music, art, literature and just about anything else—you can find the right person. So when I saw videos of a delicious-looking duck breast recipe that Restaurant Awards assistant Greg Warner, who also works in our tasting department, had posted online, I hit him up for his wine recommendations.
I asked for a wine match for each of the three possible flavor directions in the recipe. For an Old World classic, Warner said, “I tasted the Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe La Crau 2020 at the New York Wine Experience and it comes to mind as a good possibility. Leaner than many Châteauneufs, which are perhaps more suited for lamb, this red-fruited, iron-y (and still spicy) wine would complement duck breast nicely.” (The 2023 vintage of this Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre blend was recently rated at 93 points and costs $66.)
For a fruity New World wine for non-fruity sauces Warner chose two: the zesty, generous Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma County 2022 (93, $26), our Wine Value of the Year for 2024. Another wine he had at the Wine Experience came to mind too: “The Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Eastside Road Neighbors 2023 (96, $72, No. 4 Wine of 2025) would be great with medium rich sauces or Asian takes on duck.”
And for fruit-forward sauces, he matches like to like: “The Domaine Jamet Syrah Collines Rhodaniennes 2023 (92, $40) kind of freaked me out for its fruitiness, but I think it would work well with a bold balsamic or red-fruited sauce.”
How to Get Duck Breast (Magret)
D’Artagnan: dartagnan.com; starting at $25 for 12 to 14 ounces
Hudson Valley Foie Gras: hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com; $36 for about 2 pounds
Allen Brothers: allenbrothers.com; $22 for 12 to 17 ounces
