Recipe

Pan-seared Duck Breasts With Orange Chipotle Sauce Recipe

Add Step-by-Step Photos	Dond / All my dishes 2 years, 1 month ago People don't cook duck breast all that often, which is a shame because the meat has a richness that transcends what you generally find in poultry. Also, in certain parts of the country, unfrozen duck breast is not that easy to find in the grocery sto... More Prep:15m Cook:60m Servings:6	Dond
	southwestern duck

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Ingredients

2½ cups fresh orange juice

¼ cup fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons dark maple syrup

1 tablespoon finely chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo

1 (3- to 4-inch) cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

1 teaspoon salt

3 (1-lb) boneless Muscovy duck breasts with skin or 6 (7- to 8-oz) Long Island (also called Pekin) duck breast halves with skin

1½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Boil all sauce ingredients in a 2-to-3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, skimming foam occasionally, until syrupy and reduced to about 1 cup, 30 to 40 minutes.

Let stand and keep warm.

Pat duck breasts dry. Make slight incisions across the skin side of the duck breasts, but do not actually cut into the meat itself. You just want to score the skin.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat up a large sauté pan. Don't use non-stick; you want that caramelization that comes from browning the meat in a stainless steel pan.

Brown duck breasts, skin sides down, in the dry pan until a thermometer inserted horizontally into center of a breast registers 130°F, 8 to 10 minutes more for medium-rare. The skin of the duck breast has a lot of fat, and this will cook off as you brown the meat -- no need for any additional fat or oil. Don't turn the breasts over in the pan until the skin sides have completely caramelized.

Transfer to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes.

Add any juices accumulated on cutting board to sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.

Holding a sharp knife at a 45-degree angle, cut each duck breast into thin slices and serve with the warm sauce.

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Comments

dond 2 years, 1 month ago said:
I've seen versions of this recipe in which the duck breasts are broiled. I never put anything under the broiler, except meringues. Broiling is a bad way to cook meat (grilling, on the other hand, is just fine.) Also, there are a lot of recipes on this board that use skinless duck breasts and add fat or oil to the pan. Since the skin of the duck breast has its own flavorful fat, and almost all of this fat cooks away during the pan-searing process, I have never understood the need to take away the duck's skin and put the fat back into the pan in the form of cooking oil. Anyway, this is how I do it; you can, obviously, modify the recipe any way you like. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who does serve a modified version of this dish.

recipediva 2 years, 1 month ago said:
AHHHHHHHHHHH, THIS LOOKS SO GOOD. MY SON OKAY MY ENTIRE FAMILY LOVES DUCK. I WILL HAVE TO MAKE THIS. I SO AGREE THE LEAVING THE SKIN ON THE DUCK. IF I AM HAVING DUCK... DUCK IS DUCK AND YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM EATING IT IF YOU ARE SO WORRIED ABOUT THE FAT. THE FAT DOES COOK AWAY. I SO AGREE WTIH YOUR COMMENT.

coffeebean53 2 years, 1 month ago said:
The only reason I have ever held back from trying duck is that I haven't been able to find any in the store that isn't frozen. Also most recipes have always seemed fussy until this one. It looks like it's pack with a flavor explosion yet easy to prepare. I've bookmarked this one for my first attempt at duck as soon as I can find some unfrozen in the store.

dancegypsy67 2 years, 1 month ago said:
I'm all excited about the sauce and see no reason to modify how the duck is cooked. I think I might be in one of those places where unfrozen duck breasts are hard to find, but I'm willing to start the search!

dond 2 years, 1 month ago said:
Even here in the allegedly sophisticated DC-metro area, you can't just walk into your local market and find duck breast. The buyer at my local Whole Foods told me that they had had a dispute with their supplier and were in the process of hooking up with another supplier. That was a year ago. In this area, you can't even find duck breast on a regular basis at Balducci's, which is supposed to be terribly terribly upscale. Wegmann's in Northern Virginia looks more promising, but for me a trip to Virginia is a half-day affair. Good luck, everybody.

jencathen 2 years, 1 month ago said:
I have never had trouble finding duck breasts at my local meat market. I've never found it at a grocery store.

I render the fat off first by scoring and cooking low temperature and drain off the reserve fat to save for my potatoes. I then pan sear and get the skin nice and crispy. I find if I cook the breasts without rendering my skin isn't as crispy. Might be a problem with my technique though.

mystic_river1 2 years, 1 month ago said:
Marry a duck hunter J/K. I have no trouble but must be from my butcher as I am really in the boonies here but he usually tries really hard to get me what I want.Of course that will always lead to a plateful for him. I will add this to my ever-elongating Thanksgiving and Christmas menus. Thanks for the post.

dond 2 years, 1 month ago said:
Rendering first -- then searing. That's a good technique. Thanks for the posting. I think this will help anyone who is in the least apprehensive about cooking duck.

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