When preparing to cook duck breast, Fults uses a sharp knife to score the skin side so heat can get to the interior.
He sears the skin side of the duck breast in a very hot skillet, about four minutes. He turns the breast and sears the other side two or three minutes. There is no need to put any grease in the fry pan because the skin provides plenty of fat.
The seared breasts go into a pan (without cover) and are roasted at 400 degrees about 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let the breasts rest about five minutes. "This is important," says Duncan. The breasts then are sliced thinly to fan out in a decorative pattern on the plate. A sauce is spooned over the meat.
Roasted duck breast goes well with fruit sauces such as orange, plum, cherry or fig, Fults explains. It's most often served with wild rice, but it is good with polenta.
Fults usually buys whole boneless Pekin duckling breasts that comes from Maple Leaf Farms in Milford, Ind. The duck is farm raised and is very mild-flavored. Pekin is the most popular of five breeds because of its plump breast meat and its skin, which becomes a golden brown when roasted. "It makes a crispy shell around the moist meat," the chef says.
Fults and Duncan share two recipes for two sauces that are good to serve with roasted duck breast.
Caramelized Orange Sauce
Ingredients:
4 large oranges
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. water
3 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
2/3 cup veal stock (or unsalted chicken stock or broth)
2 1/2 Tbs. butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
Preparation:
Squeeze juice from two oranges and set aside. Remove zest and skin from sections of one orange and just the sections from the remaining orange.
Place zest in a small saucepan and cover with water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Drain and repeat process, draining again and reserving zest.
Heat sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until golden. Add rice wine vinegar and orange juice; simmer until slightly reduced. Add veal stock and drained zest, and cook to reduce sauce until it is syrupy. Whisk in the butter until incorporated and then add lemon juice.
Sauce is excellent with roasted duck or chicken.
Madeira-Green Peppercorn Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Madeira wine
3 cups duck stock (or unsalted chicken stock or broth)
pinch of dry thyme
1 tsp. green peppercorns
2 tsp. Madeira
salt to taste
1 tsp. unsalted butter
Preparation:
Bring Madeira to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Lower heat to simmer and reduce by half. Add stock, thyme and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, lower to a good simmer and reduce to about 1/2 cup or until a sauce-like consistency is produced. This will take quite awhile. Strain the sauce and season with additional Madeira and salt. Keep sauce warm.
When ready to serve, remove sauce from heat and swirl in the butter.
NOTE: If you substitute chicken stock or broth for the duck or veal stock, it should be a no- or low-salt version because the reduction process will turn salted chicken stock into unpalatable brine.
(Louis Durman writes for The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee.)
)
)
